Tag: Pakistan

  • Protests against loadshedding turn violent in Lyari

    Protests against loadshedding turn violent in Lyari

    Residents of Karachi’s Lyari staged a protest against prolonged load-shedding in their area on Wednesday, blocking both tracks of Mauripur Road and stopping vehicular traffic, Dawn reports. Police were allegedly forced to fire tear gas shells and baton charge the protestors to clear the road. 

    The vice chairman of UC-7 in  Lyari, Zohaib Baloch, who is one of the organisers of the protest, reportedly told Dawn that Lyari residents were facing up to 16 hours of load shedding daily, which exacerbated the crisis of water in the locality. 

    A large number of people, including women and children, staged a sit-in on Mauripur Road near Dua Hotel, blocking one of the busiest thoroughfares in the city. 

    A police officer, who wished to remain anonymous, claimed that they were compelled to take aggressive action when protestors started ‘smashing’ cars and other vehicles on the road.

    Baloch, however, claims that the police charged the locals with batons and fired tear gas at them in order to disperse the protest. He adds that their protest would continue until their demands were fulfilled. 

    According to Dawn, Baloch said that residents at Mira Naka in Lyari were protesting the same problem. Alas, this is not the first time residents of what is considerably one of Karachi’s oldest neighbourhoods have staged protests against insufficient facilities and provisions. 

    In fact, just earlier this week on Monday, residents of Lyari staged a protest against long hours of gas shortages, claiming that and the scarcity of fuel forces them to burn wood to cook meals. 

    The smoke that rises from the burning wood has caused sickness in children, while the infrastructure of houses has also been affected due to the use of wood fire. 

    Residents of Mandra Para, Rahiman Soomra and Baloch Mohallo placed gas cylinders and gas stoves on the road to protest, and the protestors included women and children.

    Karachi Press Club president Saeed Sarbazi said that K-Electric might have reasons to resort to load-shedding on the pretext of ‘losses’, but a host of issues must be considered for the problem to be resolved, Dawn reports. 

    He added that residents of Lyari were of a working-class background and thereby could not afford exorbitant electricity bills, saying that the problem required a political and social initiative.

  • Is Barbie banned in Pakistan? We investigate

    Is Barbie banned in Pakistan? We investigate

    Everything was fine and handy dandy on the internet when suddenly fire started spewing on the bird app that the upcoming film ‘Barbie’ is banned in Pakistan

    https://twitter.com/notbabyze/status/1673642005820317696?s=20

    https://twitter.com/garbajjj/status/1676269902347345926?s=20
    https://twitter.com/olivescoil/status/1672895133354979331?s=20

    This has to be a joke pulled by the Oppenheimer marketing team, because when it comes to Barbie and the sacred Greta Gerwig, our claws are out.

    Since our occupation is journalism, we got out our pink notebooks and glittery pen, and investigated this nonsense rumor to tell you guys that there is no such thing happenening. From the major cinemas we have spoken to in Lahore and Karachi, we can confidently say Barbie is not banned in Pakistan.

    In Lahore, here are some of the places where it is confirmed that the film will release on July 21:

    Xinhua Mall

    Emporium Mall

    Cue Cinema

    Chalo Cinema at Fortress Stadium is only showing Oppenheimer. When we spoke to an employee of the organisation, they said that there was no current confirmation about whether or not Barbie will be playing in their theatre.

    Whereas in Karachi, we had reached out to Nueplex Cinemas where although Barbie and Oppenheimer are grouped under the category of movies coming soon, but two employees at the cinema said that currently there was no confirmation about whether the movie will play in their cinema or not. Fans of the film can call them three days before the release to confirm.

    But there you have it folks. This Barbie has proven that the film was not banned in Pakistan.

  • Modi accuses Pakistan of supporting cross-border terrorism at SCO Summit

    Modi accuses Pakistan of supporting cross-border terrorism at SCO Summit

    This year, the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation’s (SCO) summit was hosted by India, where Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi launched thinly veiled accusations against Pakistan, saying “some countries” are “terror havens“.

    Pakistan’s Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif was in attendance, along with other SCO member countries leaders, such as Xi Jingping and Vladimir Putin.

    The SCO is a Eurasian political, economic and security organisation, which unites China, Russia, India, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Pakistan, Tajikistan, Uzbekistan, and, as of yesterday, Iran. It’s currently the world’s largest regional bloc in terms of geographic scope and population.

    Addressing the online summit, Dawn reports Modi to have said, “Some countries use cross-border terrorism as an instrument of their policies, provide shelter to terrorists. SCO should not hesitate to criticise such nations. There should be no place for double standards on such serious matters.”

    India claims that a part of the China–Pakistan Economic Corridor passage passes through a ‘disputed’ region. Modi told leaders that “terrorism has become a major threat to regional and global peace. Dealing with this challenge requires decisive action. Regardless of its form or manifestation, we must unite in our fight against terrorism.”

    Pakistan PM Shehbaz Sharif responded in turn, saying that the SCO stands for observance of the UN principles of sovereignty, territorial integrity and people’s right to self-determination, considered a reference to the Kashmir dispute.

    “UNSC resolutions offer us a workable framework for the resolution of longstanding disputes in the region,” Dawn reported Shehbaz to have said. “These must be addressed immediately and settled amicably before it is too late.”

    Kashmir has been a contentious point between the two countries since partition, but especially since India abolished Articles 370 and 35A in 2019. These articles were decades-old and provided a measure of autonomy to the disputed Muslim-majority region.

    In the earlier SCO summit in May, Pakistan’s Foreign Minister Bilawal Bhutto criticised India’s decision to scrap the special status of the disputed region of Kashmir, saying New Delhi’s unilateral move in 2019 had undermined the possibility of holding talks between the neighbours.

    India has also accused Pakistan’s military of backing Kashmiri rebels, a claim Islamabad has denied.

  • Pakistan strongly condemns Israeli airstrikes, raids in occupied Palestine

    Pakistan strongly condemns Israeli airstrikes, raids in occupied Palestine

    Pakistan on Tuesday strongly condemned raids and airstrikes by the Israeli armed forces in Jenin. Up to 10 Palestinians were killed and 50 were injured in the attacks.

    “Pakistan condemns, in the strongest possible terms, the raids and airstrikes carried out by the Israeli occupation forces since yesterday in Jenin in the occupied Palestinian territory of the West Bank, which killed 10 Palestinians and injured some 50 others,” the Foreign Office said in a statement on Tuesday.

    The Foreign Office spokesman said in a statement, “This latest episode of violence against the occupied people of Palestine by the occupying power must end immediately.”

    The spokesman repeated Pakistan’s calls for the international community to raise its voice against these brutal and unlawful actions by the Israeli armed forces to ensure the protection of the fundamental human rights of the Palestinian people.

    Pakistan reasserted its strong and unwavering support for the justifiable struggle of the people of Palestine for the complete realisation of the basic human rights of freedom and self-determination.

  • Mother needed 20K from sons for financial support, son calls her ‘petty, wants unnecessary things’

    Mother needed 20K from sons for financial support, son calls her ‘petty, wants unnecessary things’

    A Twitter thread posted by a son about his mother is going viral on social media. A Reddit user has explained that he found his mother’s desire to take money from her sons “petty”.

    The user explained that his widowed mother asked him and his brothers each to pay her Rs 20,000 so that she would be able to fulfill all of her needs, but the reddit user termed this to be selfish, arguing that his mother would be spending the money on frivolous things like parties and clothes.

    “While the amount is not large by any means, and I can give it, it’s her reasoning for this that bugs me. First, this means that she gets more than one lakh month in total, counting the rental income – like I said, her necessities are already covered so she really is going to spend all this on frivolous things like party clothes, attending parties, etc etc. Doesn’t really seem fair when I keep on imposing restrictions on my own wife and kids to not spend a single paisa needlessly.”

    Twitter users slammed the thread as entitled, arguing that men feel entitled to withhold financial support from the women in their lives, even their widowed mothers who had spent their lives taking care of them. As Digital Rights Foundation founder and lawyer Nighat Dad wrote:

    “It’s not only about sending 20k a month to a single mother but how dare an elderly single mother think about enjoying life & spending money to pamper herself. Goes to show how much women are despised if they dare to spend their lives on their terms after passing of their partners.”

    https://twitter.com/c4ndynecklaces/status/1676490948157804546?s=20

    Some users were horrified that the way the user was trying to justify how spending a small amount like 20K on his mother was a ‘selfish’ act

  • Pakistani dramas, stop treating topics like sexual harassment so lightly

    Pakistani dramas, stop treating topics like sexual harassment so lightly

    Ab ye hi reh gaya tha?

    Pakistani dramas have a strict formula. To make sure that a drama turns into a hit. They try not to even think about emphasising the understanding of social issues or for once making a drama that is not about sass bahu jhagray. The problem is that they include scenes like women being abused, exploited, and even flip the narrative by trying to justify that women make up harassment scandals just to entrap men.

    ‘Mujhay Pyaar Hua Tha’ decided to take the cake after showing two cousins getting married, a weird love triangle, father getting paralysed after daughter tries to rebel, now the good-at-heart male lead is getting trapped by another woman, who falsely accuses him of harassing her, because obviously women don’t get sexual harassed or assaulted in the Islamic Republic of Pakistan. They just make up stories, right? So wrong.

    https://twitter.com/eliteclownn/status/1675888756648464386?s=20

    In this scene, a woman shows up to Saad’s office, threatening him that she has personal pictures of his wife Maheer (played by Hania Amir) and her ex-lover Areeb (Zaviyaar Nauman Ijaz), which she will leak on social media unless Saad visits her house. When he arrives there, she hands him coffee which she had drugged with something that makes him unconscious. When Saad awakens, the woman calls the police and re-arranges the scene to make it look like she was sexually assaulted, and Saad is arrested and taken away.

    We hope that the makers of ‘Mujhay Pyaar Hua Tha’, its writer and the lead actors understand that sexual harassment is a serious crime, and not a made up fantasy that women endorse just to make money and trap innocent men. If it’s so hard for the lead actors to understand why being well aware about social issues is important when working in dramas, take an example from Mawra Hocane when she revealed that she refused to work in the drama ‘Qisa Meherbano Ka’ which was depicting marital rape, that after discussing this issue with the producer Momina Duraid and the director Iqbal Hussain, they all agreed to re-write the scene and then shot it.

    Twitter users had to condemn Pakistani dramas for once more proving that we could take one step forward, but in exchange we’ll go several steps back.

    “It’s extremely irresponsible to show false rape allegations in countries with rape culture,” one user wrote. “I hope makers realise they are feeding victim complex of Desi men for lukewarm twists.”

  • Nationwide protests on Friday against Holy Quran desecration in Sweden

    The federal government has announced a nationwide protest on Friday, July 7, against the recent incident of dishonouring the Holy Book in Sweden.

    A man burned a copy of the Holy Quran publicly outside a mosque in the capital of Sweden. This hateful act of public burning in Stockholm has hurt the sentiments of Muslims all over the world.
    Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif decided in a meeting on Tuesday to stage nationwide protests over the incident. He appealed to all the political parties and the nation to take part in the rallies.

    “Speaking with one voice, the whole nation will give a message to the evil minds,” said the premier. He added that the nation will observe the “Youm-e-Taqaddus Quran” on Friday.

    The prime minister has also decided to call a joint session of parliament to frame a national strategy.
    Earlier today, the United Nations Human Rights Council announced it would hold an urgent session to address Islamophobia and religious hatred at the request of Pakistan.

  • UN to hold urgent meeting on Quran burning incident in Sweden on Pakistan’s request

    UN to hold urgent meeting on Quran burning incident in Sweden on Pakistan’s request

    The United Nations (UN) Human Rights Council is set to convene an urgent meeting in response to a request from Pakistan regarding the burning of a copy of the Quran in Sweden, as stated by a spokesperson on Tuesday.

    “The UN Human Rights Council will hold an urgent debate to discuss the alarming rise in premeditated and public acts of religious hatred, as manifested by the current desecration of the holy Quran in some European and other countries,” council spokesman Pascal Sim told reporters, citing a request from Pakistan on behalf of some members of the Organization of Islamic Cooperation, as reported by AlArabiya News.

    Salwan Momika, an Iraqi living in Sweden, set fire to a copy of the Quran in front of Stockholm’s central mosque on Eid-ul-Azha.

  • Chief Justice of Pakistan’s salary increased from Rs1.02 million to Rs1.2 million

    Chief Justice of Pakistan’s salary increased from Rs1.02 million to Rs1.2 million

    Acting President and Chairman Senate Sadiq Sanjrani has issued an order, raising the monthly salary of the Chief Justice of Pakistan and other judges of the Supreme Court. The salaries have been increased to 12 lacs 29 thousand 189 rupees and 11 lacs 61 thousand 163 rupees, respectively.

    The order, issued on July 3, states that the monthly salary of the Chief Justice of Pakistan would be 12 lakh 29 thousand 189 rupees and the other judges of the Supreme Court would take 11 lakh 61 thousand 163 rupees.

    According to a previous order issued last month by the President, the salary of the Chief Justice of Pakistan was 10 lakh, 24 thousand, 324 rupees, and the salaries of the other judges of the Supreme Court were 9 lakh, 67 thousand, 636 rupees.

    After the new order was issued by Sadiq Sanjrani, the previous order was cancelled.

  • Fitch and Moody’s: IMF loan provides temporary relief for Pakistan, but risks remain

    Fitch and Moody’s: IMF loan provides temporary relief for Pakistan, but risks remain

    Fitch Ratings and Moody’s Investors Service issued warnings on Monday regarding Pakistan’s financial sustainability, despite the recent acquisition of a much-needed $3 billion lifeline from the International Monetary Fund (IMF).

    Last week, Pakistan signed a short-term (nine-month) loan programme worth $3 billion with the IMF, as the previous $7 billion programme was prematurely ending on the same day.

    The objective of the new loan programme is to provide the necessary foreign exchange to reopen imports, support listed companies in gradually resuming partially closed production, and stimulate economic activities within the country.

    Additionally, this programme serves as a signal to other donor agencies and friendly nations, which had pledged $9 billion at a Geneva meeting in January 2023, to extend new financing to Islamabad.

    However, the two global rating agencies caution that risks persist for Pakistan’s economy, particularly as the government faces a daunting $25 billion debt repayment challenge in the upcoming year starting in July.

    Krisjanis Krustins, Fitch’s Director of Sovereigns for APAC, emphasised that Pakistan will require significant additional financing beyond IMF disbursements to meet its debt obligations and support an economic recovery.

    While the IMF likely sought and received assurances for such financing, there remains a risk that it could prove insufficient, especially if current account deficits widen again.

    In order to secure the initial agreement with the IMF, Pakistan had to implement measures such as tax increases, spending cuts, and raising its primary interest rate to a historical peak.

    Although the markets responded positively to this initial agreement, leading to a significant surge in stocks and improved performance of dollar bonds, it still awaits approval from the IMF Executive Board.

    Moody’s analyst Grace Lim, based in Singapore, expressed doubts about Pakistan’s ability to secure the full $3 billion IMF financing during the stand-by period of the loan programme. Lim stated that it remains uncertain whether the Pakistani government will be able to secure the complete amount.

    Furthermore, she highlighted that the government’s commitment to implementing ongoing reforms will be tested as the country approaches elections scheduled for October 2023.

    It is worth noting that Pakistan had previously obtained a $1.1 billion loan in August, which was subsequently halted due to Islamabad’s failure to comply with certain stipulated conditions.

    According to Moody’s, the towering $25 billion debt repayment comprises both principal and interest, amounting to nearly seven times Pakistan’s foreign exchange reserves.

    Lim further added that only after the elections will it become clear whether the country will be able to enter into another IMF programme.

    Until a new programme is agreed upon, Pakistan’s ability to secure loans from other bilateral and multilateral partners in the long term will be severely limited, she cautioned.