Tag: Pakistan

  • This Pakistani BTS fan celebrated Namjoon and Jung Kook’s birthday in a wholesome way

    This Pakistani BTS fan celebrated Namjoon and Jung Kook’s birthday in a wholesome way

    BTS fans will continue to go to all lengths to prove that they’re indeed the most wholesome and wonderful people to exist on the planet.

    A BTS fan from Gujranwala, Syeda Binte Zainab, moved social media a few days ago when she celebrated the birthday’s of both BTS members Jung Kook and Namjoon’s by donating 125 boxes of food to patients suffering from thalassemia at Sundus Foundation, in an effort to spread awareness about providing blood donations to help children suffering from the disease.

    Namjoon aka RM, is a popular rapper and song writer from the South Korean band BTS, which comprises of six other members including Jung Kook, Jin, Suga, Jimin, V and J-Hope. The band, declared by Time Magazine to be the ‘Princes Of Pop’, partnered with UNICEF in 2017 for their campaign to end violence against children, and have received 5 Grammy nominations.

    The viral tweet received praise from fans and non-fans alike on social media, who appreciated the woman for undertaking such an amazing charity project on her own to celebrate her idol’s birthday.

    Syeda Zainab also shared a link to her Youtube account which showed how she set up the project. She also included an interview with a doctor who spoke in detail about the disease and encouraged others to donate blood to patients and help save their lives.

    Speaking to The Current, Syeda Zainab, who works as a teacher had previously collaborated with Sundas Foundation to organise 180 gifts food boxes, and this year had decided had collaborated with a student to bake a cake and a fellow BTS fan from Twitter, who baked cookies for the occasion.

    “This year in collaboration with #BTS_Pk_Streaming , I thought of doing something different, so I texted the Director and asked for his permission to organise a little activity to which he instantly agreed. So I saved my 1 month salary and decided to arrange a special meal for Thalassemia fighters and their families. My student ‘Haider’ who is also BTS ARMY member, prepared the BTS Themed Cake to celebrate Namkook’s (Namjoon & Jungkook of BTS) birthday . A kind ARMY friend *Saira from Twitter specially prepared ‘Namjoon & Jungkook day special cookies’ for patients. I’ve Donated Blood before Starting the celebration because I know the importance of blood donations. My Blood can save 1 life so what’s better then this to celebrate this special month?”

    Syeda Zainab told us she had been organising charity efforts for Sundas Foundation since 2021, when she donated blood to the patients and was in touch with the director whom she described as a ‘noble’ man. In 2022, she had celebrated Jung Kooks’ birthday with the rest of the patients by packing more than 180 gifts for the patients, and also brought along a cake to celebrate the occasion as shown from pictures she shared with us.

    Speaking on the overwhelming praise her project received from social media, Zainab said she found it “over whelming and heart touching”. Several patients suffering from thalassemia exchanged phone numbers with her in order to see her vlog. “They literally longed for blood and happiness. I’m glad I was the reason behind their smile and happiness.”

    “BTS is the reason behind spreading smiles all around the world and we ARMYs simply follow their footsteps. Alhumdulillah I feel incredibly happy to spread happiness around me just like my idols.”

    Pakistani BTS fans have gone viral on several occasions for setting up extensive charity projects to celebrate birthdays of the band members, asking for nothing in return. “BTS and the ARMY fandom have been actively involved in social causes and have raised millions for charities. I remember back in June 6th 2020, BTS and Big Hit Entertainment donated $1 million to Black Lives Matter, and the ARMY fandom matched that amount within 24 hours.”

    Continuing further, Zainab said “We organize projects like this because our icons inspire us every single day. Jungkook donated millions of won (Korean currency) to hospitals and universities on his birthday. When the severe earthquake disaster happened in turkey, it was BTS band members who donated millions of dollars to help the victims. The list is too extensive to share how many times they have contributed to help others.. We ARMYS do good things on BTS name all around the world so it doesn’t matter for us that our idols live in Korea or anywhere else. The thing which only matter is “THE MESSAGE”. The message BTS gives to ‘LOVE YOURSELF’ & ‘BE HUMAN’.”

    Zainab told The Current that Pakistani BTS fans have done several projects in honor of their idols in the past, as last year they had celebrated Namjoon’s birthday by donating wheelchairs to Manawan Hospital Lahore. On September 1, which was Jungkook’s birthday, ARMY members donated 50 notebooks to schools in order to provide educational facilities for students from lower income backgrounds, along with Rs 7000 to Edhi Foundation, just proving how their fandom continues to do good and keep making their icons proud.

  • 127 Pakistanis attended Urs of Mujadid Alf Sani in India

    127 Pakistanis attended Urs of Mujadid Alf Sani in India

    Over a hundred Pakistani pilgrims took part in the annual Urs (death anniversary ) of Sufi saint Hazrat Mujadid Alf Sani at Sirhind Sharif in India, with the total number tallying up to 127.

    Pakistan’s Charge d’ Affaires to India, Aizaz Khan, was also present to commemorate the 410th urs of the 16th-century Islamic scholar who was deemed as a Mujaddid by his followers, meaning a “reviver” since he revised Islam through his writings.

    According to Express Tribune, Aizaz expressed his appreciation to the shrine’s caretaker, Khalifa Syed Mohammed Sadiq Raza, and the local administration for their support in facilitating the pilgrims.

    Pakistani pilgrims reportedly attend the annual Urs of Hazrat Mujadid Alf Sani every year under the framework of the 1974 India-Pakistan protocol on visits to religious shrines.

  • Did we lose the match because of Shehbaz’s tweets? X users say yes

    Did we lose the match because of Shehbaz’s tweets? X users say yes

    Former Prime Minister (PM) Shehbaz Sharif is a big sports fan and tweets about cricket and tennis quite often. His tweets full of excitement during the Asia Cup about Pakistani cricketers created quite a stir, but not for the right reasons. Twitter (now X) users are blaming Shehbaz for Pakistan’s loss. Here’s why.

    On September 2 when Pakistan played its first match against India in Asia Cup 2023,Shehbaz tweeted that the Indians “CANNOT PLAY’ Shaheen Shah Afridi.

    However, in the next match between Pakistan and India, Shaheen’s performance was so bad that even his father-in-law Shahid Afridi was not happy with his performance.

    “If we ball like Naseem Shah in initial overs, the situation could have been different. Shaheen’s line and length were not good, he gets frustrated if he doesn’t get wickets in early overs because he is known as a wicket taker in the first over,” said Shahid about Shaheen.

    Pakistan lost the match to India by 228 runs.

    Pakistan lost the crucial Super 4 match against Sri Lanka yesterday and thus couldn’t qualify for the Asia Cup final.

    Shehbaz Sharif was quick to buck up the Boys in Green.

    “That was an incredible last over, Zaman. A great game of cricket indeed.”

    X users were quick to point out that after Shehbaz praised Shaheen, he performed badly and now that he has praised Zaman Khan, his career may be over. One user told Shehbaz to “stay away from cricket”.

    Here are some tweets:

  • Child dies in crossfire in Karachi

    Child dies in crossfire in Karachi

    Maryam, a seven-year-old girl, got shot on Friday while she was on her way to school near Nagan Chowrangi.

    The girl was seated in a car being driven by her father when a security guard and robbers exchanged fire.

    Dawn spoke with Taimuria police officer Ghulam Murtaza who said that the father recalled that the two were near a shopping centre around 7:12am when the car slowed down at a speed breaker. At that point he heard Maryam cry out “Baba”. She was bleeding so he rushed her to a hospital nearby and then to Ziauddin Hospital where doctors pronounced her dead on arrival.

    According to Police Surgeon Summaiya Syed, the family took Maryam’s body home without a post-mortem examination but then the police brought it back to conduct a post-mortem which concluded that she was shot in the head.

    The police reported that the shootout was between a security guard and robbers.

    Maryam’s father did not lodge an FIR, however, police have registered a case against the detained guard on behalf of the state under Section 319 (manslaughter) of the Pakistan Penal Code and initiated an investigation.

    Security guard Ali Raza was then taken into custody.

    Initially, two spent bullet casings fired from separate pistols had been recovered from the spot, and later, as per a police spokesperson, a forensic report confirmed that the bullet that killed Maryam was fired by the security guard.

    The guard, employed at a restaurant, opened fire on two robbers as they escaped the scene, when one of the bullets hit Maryam on the opposite side of the road near Haroon Shopping Centre within the jurisdiction of the Taimuria police station.

    A four-member committee has been formed which will be led by Gulberg SP to probe into the case.

    Sindh Governor Kamran Tessori has also taken notice of the incident and sought a detailed report from the Additional IGP of Karachi.

  • Sara Sharif’s father, stepmother charged with her murder

    Sara Sharif’s father, stepmother charged with her murder

    The UK police have charged 10-year-old Sara Sharif’s father Irfan Sharif, stepmother Beinash Batool and uncle Faisal with murder.

    The trio were arrested on their return from Pakistan yesterday and have been charged with the murder of Sara Sharif.

    According to authorities, the three were arrested at Gatwick Airport.

    Two days back, all three of them flew back to the UK as law enforcing agencies in Pakistan kept pursuing them.
    Raja Haq Nawaz, a lawyer for Urfan Sharif’s father Muhammad Sharif, told DAWN that the suspects were not arrested and that their flight left from Sialkot, Punjab.

    Previously, Jhelum police shifted Urfan Sharif’s five children to the Child Protection Bureau after a local court granted permission to the police to do so. The children were to be in the Bureau’s custody till the parents were found and arrested.

    While they were in Pakistan, the couple also released a video in which Batool touched upon media reporting of Sara’s death, claiming that they both will cooperate with UK authorities, and that they were on the run in Pakistan because the family feared that the Pakistan police will torture and kill them.

    The Case

    On August 10, 10-year-old Sara Sharif was found dead in her home in Woking, England, when her father, Urfan Sharif, called 999 from Pakistan.

    Nadeem Riaz, shop owner and a travelling agent, has known Sharif for 11 years.

    During an interview with The Times, he recalled that on August 8, he booked a one-way tickets to Pakistan on urgent basis, claiming that his cousin died.

    On August 9, Sharif, his wife Beinash Batool, their five children and Sharif’s brother Faisal Malik left for Islamabad from the UK on a British Airways flight.

    The next day, Urfan Sharif called 999 after which the police found Sara’s body at home. Surrey Police then began an investigation along with international partners. The same day, after arriving at Islamabad, the family travelled to Jhelum. The police kept on tracking them as they left for Domeli late on August 12, and then left Domeli the very next day. This was the last location tracked.

    On August 15, Pakistan police received a request from International Criminal Police Organization (Interpol) via FIA to hunt them down.

  • Who is the first Pakistani to travel into space?

    Virgin Galactic will be flying into space on October 5, carrying three space tourists, including one Pakistani.

    Virgin Galactic is a spaceflight company that launched its first commercial space tourism flight on June 29, 2023.

    On Thursday, the company announced the launch of Galactic 04, its fourth commercial spaceflight and ninth space mission overall.

    It will host three space tourists from the US, the UK, and Pakistan. It will be the first time that a Pakistani will fly to space.

    The names of the crewmembers are yet to be released but as per our research, Namira Salim from Pakistan will be onboard.

    Salim is a Pakistani polar adventurer and artist based in Monaco and Dubai.

    Galactic 04 will take off from Spaceport America in New Mexico, carrying the passengers to suborbital space and back. In simpler words, suborbital flight is a short journey into space where a spaceship goes up but does not stay in space. It leaves the earth’s atmosphere for a brief time and comes back right after. It is a quick trip to experience weightlessness and witness space. Unlike an orbital spaceflight, it does not circle the earth.

    Space.com explains that the space tourists will be carried by Virgin’s VSS Unity space plane taken into the sky by a carrier craft named VMS Eve. Eve will drop Unity at an altitude of about 50,000 feet (15,000 meters); the space plane will then fire up its rocket motor to get to suborbital space.

    “VSS Unity passengers get to experience a few minutes of weightlessness and see Earth against the blackness of space. A ticket to ride the space plane currently costs $450,000”.

    So far, the company has launched Galactic 01, Galactic 02 and Galactic 03 on June 29, August 10 and September 8, respectively; keeping up with its goal of launching at least one commercial space flight a month.

  • How much did Nawaz Sharif tip for his favourite kheer?

    How much did Nawaz Sharif tip for his favourite kheer?

    Former Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif gave a GBP 50 tip to a guy for delivering his favourite kheer.

    The unnamed delivery guy said in a video that Nawaz Sharif likes to eat their kheer, a dessert made from rice and milk, which he orders regularly. The delivery man said that the former Premier, who often orders the dessert, gave the man GBP 50 as tip about three weeks ago.

    @murtazaviews

    Nawaz Sharif #fyp #foryoupage #nawazsharif #maryamnawaz #londontiktok #pakistantiktok #pmln #imrankhan

    ♬ original sound – Murtaza Ali Shah

  • Economic crisis: 95 per cent of Pakistanis fear unemployment

    Economic crisis: 95 per cent of Pakistanis fear unemployment

    In Pakistan, 95 per cent of Pakistanis are worried about the possibility of unemployment, while only 5% are confident of job security.

    Apsus Pakistan’s new survey, based on public opinion, says that there has been a clear increase in the rate of Pakistanis claiming to be unemployed in the last one year.

    According to the survey, 95 per cent of Pakistanis are afraid of unemployment due to the country’s economic conditions, while only 5 percent are confident of job security.

    In the survey, 63 per cent said that they, or someone they know, lost their job; and 99 per cent claimed that it was difficult to buy daily necessities, while 99 per cent were not confident about buying a house or a car.

    About 96 per cent of Pakistanis expressed their inability to save and invest to meet their financial needs in the future.

  • Asad Umar gets pre-arrest bail in cipher case; Qureshi, Imran bail pleas rejected

    Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) leader Asad Umar got pre-arrest bail in US cipher case from a special court on Thurday. On the other hand, PTI’s Chairman Imran Khan and Vice Chairman Shah Mehmood Qureshi’s bail pleas got rejected in the same case while their judicial remand has been extended till September 26.

    Special prosecutor Shah Khawar told the judge Abul Hasnat that Umar’s arrest is not necessary at this stage.

    “Asad Umar’s arrest is not required in the case as yet and no evidence against him has been gathered as of now,” Shah Khawar told the judge, adding that if investigators found evidence against the former finance minister, he would be informed.

    “If Asad Umar’s arrest is required, the Federal Investigation Agency (FIA) will proceed according to law,” the judge ordered.

    Judge Hasnat also instructed FIA to inform Asad Umar before arresting him.

  • 7th straight win: Pakistani rupee gains 86 paisas, closes at Rs297.96 per US dollar

    7th straight win: Pakistani rupee gains 86 paisas, closes at Rs297.96 per US dollar

    The Pakistani Rupee (PKR) has extended its impressive winning streak against the US dollar for the seventh consecutive session, concluding at PKR 297.96 to the dollar. This marks a gain of 86 paisas when compared to the previous rate of Rs298.82 in the interbank foreign exchange market on Wednesday.

    The PKR’s recent surge follows its all-time low of PKR 307.10 on September 5, 2023. Within this short span, the Pakistani rupee has appreciated by PKR 9.14, equivalent to an impressive 3 percent increase in the interbank foreign exchange market.

    Following a concerted effort by authorities to suppress illicit black market activities in the major cities of Pakistan, the Pakistani rupee continued its upward trajectory against the US dollar, marking a substantial three-point gain in the open market on Thursday.

    The Exchange Companies Association of Pakistan (ECAP) reported a noteworthy recovery of the rupee, which surged to 298 in relation to the greenback, reflecting a significant increase.

    This crackdown on black market operators was initiated earlier in the month in response to a precipitous decline in the rupee’s value, hitting a record low of Rs333.7 on September 5. The impetus for this decisive action stemmed from appeals made to Chief of Army Staff (COAS) Gen. Asim Munir by currency dealers, beseeching him to intervene and stabilise the escalating value of the American currency.

    As a direct outcome of these concerted efforts, the Pakistani currency rebounded to a level below 300 per dollar in the open market earlier this week. This positive shift also saw a substantial influx of tens of millions of dollars back into the country’s interbank and open markets, according to reports from dealers.