Claim: A poster which stated that United Arab Emirates (UAE) has banned visas for people belonging to various cities in Pakistan, has gone viral on social media. Some media outlets have also reported the news.
The cities include Abbottabad, Attock, Bajaur Agency, Chakwal, Dera Ghazi Khan, Dera Ismail Khan, Hangu, Hunza, Quetta, Kasur, Kohat, Kotli, Khushab, Khurrum Agency, Larkana, Mohmand Agency, Muzaffargarh, Nawabshah, Parachinar, Sahiwal, Sargodha, Sheikhupura, Skardu and Sukkur.
A warning on the poster stated, “Dont apply visa for a person who has been born in any of the above-mentioned cities, your visa will be rejected and the fee is non-refundable.”
Fact: Speaking to Geo News, Consulate General of the UAE Karachi Bakheet Ateeq Al Remeithi denied the news and termed it fake.
Remeithi said that Pakistani citizens can apply for a visit visa and visas of other categories.
He also revealed that he has issued visas to citizens born or residing in the aforementioned cities, from the Karachi consulate.
The consulate general also said that rumours like this are spread from time to time.
The Federal Government has launched an internship program for over 20,000 engineers across Pakistan, providing them with a monthly compensation of Rs. 40,000.
Speaking at the 56th Annual general meeting of Institution of Engineers Pakistan, the Federal Minister for Planning and Development, Ahsan Iqbal, revealed that the government is working on promoting the engineering sector of Pakistan.
Iqbal further stated that a budget amounting to Rs 6.5 billion has been approved for five universities, with the government also deciding to establish an institution bearing the name of the late nuclear scientist Dr. Abdul Qadeer Khan. Ahsan Iqbal had stated last month that over 20,000 scholarships would be offered to unemployed graduates in Pakistan, and under the Youth Development Initiatives program launched by Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif, these scholarships will be offered to students from remote parts of Pakistan.
Senators in the United States of America (USA) approved a sweeping annual spending package of $1.7 trillion, allocating $200 million for gender equality and strengthening democracy in Pakistan.
Ukraine has got the lion’s share, with $45 billion approved in a aid and reforms to election law.
It is to be noted that Pakistan’s allocation is under the US fund for gender equality, which is a 20-fold increase from the funds reserved in 2020.
In 2020, the US congress cleared $10m for addressing gender disparity and $15m for strengthening democracy in Pakistan. In 2000, Pakistan received $25 million for the same purpose.
The sweeping annual spending package was rubber-stamped by the House of Representatives.
House Majority Leader Steny Hoye said: “This bill is a critically important piece of legislation not only to keep our government funded, keep our people being served but also to show that the United States of America’s government works.”
A principal of a government school in India’s UP state has been booked for making students recite Allama Iqbal’s poem “Lab pe aati hai dua ban kay taamna meri”.
The principal Nahid Siddiqui was booked after a video of a student reciting the poem went viral on social media. The First Hand Information (FIR) alleged that a “religious prayer” was recited at the government school in a bid to convert the students.
The school principal has also been suspended by the Education Department. The School has 265 students enrolled in Classes 1 to 8.
Prominent Indian Journalist Rana Ayyub while sharing the screenshot of the news report wrote, “The principal was suspended for singing this song ‘Ho Mera Kaam Garibon Ki Himayat Karna Dardmando Se Zaifon Se Mohabbat Karna.’ Me, my siblings sang it. Your hate will kill you from within you bigots.”
Celebrity public news is an unnecessary but amusing part of our lives. We abhor it but we love the small distraction it provides us from our daily lives. We hear headlines about a celebrity getting married, getting engaged, or promoting some diet tea product and move on. But there are a few times when a celebrity begins trending not because of an announcement but also because of a disturbing rise of misogynist backlash that pales in comparison to how a male public figure would be dealt with. And we cannot ignore this trend and go about our day, because it reflects on how publicly, women are made to face the same kind of scrutiny and slut-shaming that men aren’t subjected to at all.
This morning, Reham Khan announced her marriage to 36-year-old Mirza Bilal Baig. Minutes later, the ex-television host was trending across platforms. There was a wave of posts congratulating the journalist and filmmaker and sending her warm wishes for her future. The feel-good factor was quickly overshadowed by a tsunami of trolls sending hateful comments trolling Khan for the 13 year age-gap in her marriage, calling her all sorts of slurs, assumptions that she is power-hungry and selfish for wanting to marry a younger man when she is in her forties.
Some of the comments, like this Bashir here, seems to assume Reham is a man-eater for marrying someone younger than her. Would he say the same for male politicians marrying and discarding their young wives as soon as they get bored?
Or like this man jumping in the bandwagon to accuse Reham of being a gold digger, marrying famous men to write explosive books about them. Sir jee, women don’t exist in boxes to depend on men in order to make their own fame. Reham Khan had a career before she married Imran Khan. She didn’t need him to make her place in the public sphere. No woman should be reduced to her personal connections, her hard work counting for naught.
If the men were not enough , a lot of women can’t find it in them to support another woman comfortably living her own life and doing whatever she wants. Like this one calling her ‘graceless’ and unwilling to settle down. Why should you put an age limit to settling down and getting married? Women don’t die after their forties. They cannot suddenly stop living life and exploring what they like. As far as Reham’s multiple marriages go, Islam has granted both men and women equal permission to marry or divorce, so she has not committed any crime.
As a popular feminist slogan goes: ‘Sexism is a social disease’. It reduces women down to mere objects, forces them to deal with the endless unsolicited comments from not only men in their lives, but outside their homes consistently. It demands them to keep moulding themselves according to what other people think of them, and never seek their own independence or choices. When the truth is: women don’t need to keep justifying their choices to others.
We saw this previously with Churails actress Yasra Rizvi, when she faced an endless amount of hateful comments calling her ‘gold digger’ and ‘power hungry’ when she married a man ten years younger than her. Last year after rumors spread of a split between the two, Rizvi uploaded a post of the couple reminding everyone that they chose to remain blissful about their union, despite what haters think.
Hopefully, with Reham Khan and other public figures finally putting the notion of settling in your 20s in its grave, our audiences, especially mard hazarat, can come to respect women as multi-facated beings who don’t need to get married at the age of 25 and give up on life. It’s necessary for women to realise that they don’t owe an explanation about their decisions to random men, and it doesn’t make them a failure if they choose to marry later in their lives.
We’ve seen the football and cricket world cups hosted in different countries around the world, and seen how the host would integrate their culture to bring a refreshing take. The internet went absolutely wild when Qatar topped the FIFA world cup ceremony by rewarding Messi with the bisht, a black cape that is given to Arab conquerers to symbolize them as revolutionary heroes.
One of the coldest photos you’ll ever see. Emir of Qatar putting the bisht on Messi as if he has ascended to the football thorne winning a great battle. Just clear your mind and throw of your phobia. You’ll see a picture worth thousand words. pic.twitter.com/5dgD5GaZP4
Amidst Shaniera Akram’s digital feud with actors Feroze Khan and Imran Ashraf, veteran actor Noor Bukhari slammed Shaniera for being nosy.
“Please ignore her she has commitments on every celebrity,” the former host penned on Instagram.
“She commented on one of my and Resham’s posts, and we completely ignored her. I don’t even know who she is.”
Bukhari then lent support to Imran Ashraf, who clarified his driving reel with son Roham, and added, “You don’t need to explain as every parent is aware of their child’s safety and well-being. More power to you. Stay blessed, we all pray for you and your family.”
Akram then took to her Instagram story and addressed Bukhari’s criticism. “Are you kidding me?” the activist wrote. “I never said anything to you, Noor other than disagreeing that Humayun Saeed was too old to play romantic heroes. Give me a break.”
Akram continued, “I’m sorry if it offended you or anyone else, but it kills me to see people, especially ones with big followings, doing dangerous things with their kids and then posting on social media. It’s just not okay with me.” In the next story, Akram wrote, “And please get over yourself. You know exactly who I am and what I stand for.”
Later, Bukhari apologised to Akram while agreeing with the latter about the kids’ safety issue. “You are absolutely right on the safety part of our kids,” she shared on her Instagram story. “I apologise that I misunderstood you. I feel no shame to apologise as my comment was not in good taste. I’m sorry.”
Surprised by Bukhari’s apology, Akram thanked her and shared, “Wow, thank you! Really didn’t expect that. At least this is cleared up and we can move forward.”
Earlier this year Akram come forward to share her thoughts on the ageist remarks made by Noor about Humayun Saeed.
“I don’t know about this. From my experience, I think many incredible love stories happen a lot in the second half of life,” said Shaniera Akram.
“So many people haven’t found their true love or are still looking for it. There are many unmarried, divorced [and] widowed people in the world — don’t rule them out. Theirs is the true story of finding love,” she wrote in her Instagram story.
Taking to the Instagram story section, Noor said that the storyline of London Nahi Jaunga is extremely weak. She also took a jab at Humayun, believing he should be doing more mature roles. Bukhari added that “Love doesn’t happen in this age.”
The much-anticipated Lollywood film was released on the eve of Eid-ul-Azha and its leading cast includes Humayun Saeed, Mehwish Hayat, Kubra Khan and Vasay Chaudhry.
The Argentine Central Bank has proposed putting Lionel Messi’s photi on their 1000 peso banknote after the country won the FIFA World Cup. As reported by financial newspaper El Financiero, the proposals have been made by the Central Bank officials of Argentina.
“Capturing Lionel Messi’s face on the thousand-peso bill, since it is important for officials that the figure begins with a ’10’,” wrote El Financiero.
The proposal to place Messi’s face on the bank notes was, according to the publication, made “jokingly” by central bank officials.
“And before you think otherwise, this option was ‘jokingly’ proposed by members of the Argentine Central Bank, although the most enthusiastic directors, such as Lisandro Cleri, a fervent supporter of Boca Juniors, and Eduardo Hecker, a follower of Independiente, agreed on that a bill with this design would awaken the collecting spirit of Argentines,” wrote El Financiero.
The Argentina Central Bank previously created commemorative coins following Argentina’s 1978 World Cup victory. Additionally, commemorative coins were produced in honour of Eva Perón, the former First Lady of Argentina, on her passing.
According to public health experts, approximately 75 per cent of Pakistanis suffer from various mental health problems. The majority of Pakistanis, according to Vice Chancellor of the Health Services Academy (HSA) Prof. Shahzad Ali Khan, are either sad or under stress. Public health experts and intellectuals have portrayed a bleak picture of Pakistanis’ mental state.
Prof Shahzad Ali Khan, while addressing the launch of the 24th Thematic Calendar by Jahan-i-Maseeha Adbi Forum (JMAF), said that the majority of the population is suffering from different mental health disorders including depression and anxiety. He continued by adding that the majority of young people in Pakistan, view everyone as corrupt and incompetent, despite the fact that similar problems, such as inflation, unemployment, and recession, affect young people everywhere.
“Initially, teachers and academia of our society were targeted and they were defamed. Later, character assassination of physicians and healthcare professionals was carried out and the same treatment was meted out to politicians,” he added.
Pakistani classical singer Bilqees Khanum passed away yesterday in Karachi after a prolonged illness. Her prayers will be held today at Imam Bargah Khairul Amal.
Bilqees Khanum was a renowned classical singer famous for such hits as Anokha Ladla, Kuch din to baso, Lathay di chaddar and Chaap Tilak.
Bilqees had received musical training from her grandfather Inayat Ali Khan.
Khanum was previously married to Ustaad Raees Khan, the celebrated sitar performer, who passed away in 2017. She is survived by her four sons, two of whon are in India while the other two remain in Pakistan.
