The Pakistan Army will assist Qatar with security in the upcoming FIFA World Cup 2022. The federal cabinet approved a draft agreement that allows the government to provide troops for security at the FIFA World Cup in Qatar later this year.
“The agreement aims to define the obligations of the two parties, the specific specialisations, and the number of security personnel to be sent by Pakistan to participate in the security and safety operations,” the summary presented to the cabinet read.
The government of Qatar had requested Pakistan’s assistance in the security of the FIFA World Cup. The event will be held from November 21 to December 18, 2022.
Prime Minister (PM) Shehbaz Sharif is in Qatar on a two-day official visit at the request of Qatar’s Emir, Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani.
The internet services in Pakistan suffered another disruption on Monday night. Services of almost all of the major Internet Service Providers (ISPs) were disrupted. Services were suspended in Rawalpindi, Islamabad and Lahore around 11:10pm and remained suspended until 1:20am.
“A nation-scale internet disruption has been registered in Pakistan; the incident affects multiple providers including PTCL, Nayatel and StormFiber with real-time network data showing connectivity at 38% of an ordinary level,” NetBlocks said in a tweet.
⚠️ Confirmed: A nation-scale internet disruption has been registered in #Pakistan; the incident affects multiple providers including PTCL, Nayatel and StormFiber with real-time network data showing connectivity at 38% of ordinary levels
Sources in PTCL said the internet fibre cables suffered damage due to heavy rains in Sukkur areas. “They said rainwater had entered the PTCL exchange causing electricity to short-circuit. The company expects the repair work to be completed by Tuesday morning,” reports Dawn.
This was the second major disruption of internet services in less than a week. Last week, internet services were affected on Friday (August 19).
According to the National Institute of Health (NIH), the Covid-19 positivity rate in Pakistan has reached 2.48 per cent and three people have lost their lives to the deadly virus in the last 24 hours.
In addition, 416 cases of Covid-19 were reported in Pakistan on August 21. A total of 16,764 tests were conducted in the past 24 hours.
According to the NIH data, 152 Covid-19 patients are in critical care.
COVID-19 Statistics 22 August 2022 Total Tests in Last 24 Hours: 16,764 Positive Cases: 416 Positivity %: 2.48% Deaths: 03 Patients on Critical Care: 152
In March this year, the government announced the closure of the National Command and Operation Centre (NCOC). The body was set up in March 2020 to deal with Covid-19.
Apart from English and French, Mandarin and Punjabi were Canada’s most widely spoken languages. About 4.6 million Canadians (12.7%) speak a language other than English or French predominantly at home. Mandarin and Punjabi are spoken predominantly at home by more than half a million Canadians each.
More than a hundred thousand people each speak Yue (Cantonese), Spanish, Arabic, Tagalog, Persian languages, Urdu, Russian and Korean at home as per the 2021 census.
According to the 2021 census, which was announced on August 18th, Urdu was at the seventh spot out of the top 12 non-official spoken languages in Canada.
In 2021, 520,000 Canadians spoke Punjabi at home, and 530,000 spoke Mandarin at home. According to the census, 290,000 people speak Arabic while 160,000 speak Urdu at home.
Meanwhile, conventional estimates indicate that the number of Pakistani-origin Canadians is a lot more than the official numbers. According to an official of the Pakistan High Commission in Ottawa, around 500,000 to 600,000 Pakistanis reside in Canada.
Blockbuster Lollywood film Muala Jatt starring Sultan Rahi and Mustafa Qureshi is a cult Punjabi language action-musical film directed by Younis Malik and produced by Sarwar Bhatti.
This movie belongs to a genre which represents the rural culture of Pakistani central Punjab. Its success set the trend of action films being popular in Pakistan and cemented Sultan Rahi as Lollywood’s leading hero.
Maula Jatt met with a ban not long after its release from the establishment of the time due to its violent content. However, the producer was able to acquire a stay order. The stay order not only gave the film a 2-and-a-half-year run time in cinemas but also helped the film make history as the first Punjabi film to have done so.
Now its official remake is releasing across the country on October 13th starring the biggest superstars of the country such as Fawad Khan, Mahira Khan, Hamza Ali Abbasi and Humaima Malick among others.
The film, which was initially announced in 2011, has seen many hurdles along the way. Be it the prolonged legal battle or a pandemic, The Legend of Maula Jatt kept getting delayed for one reason or the other. Now, fans and critics are hopeful that the film will finally see the light of the day and will release on the recently announced date, October 13 of this year.
However not many know that Indian film industry a.k.a Bollywood also remade this cult classic in the 1980s. The Hindi film is Jeene Nahi Doonga, a 1984 Bollywood action film directed by Rajkumar Kohli and starring Raj Babbar, Dharmendra, Anita Raj. The movie is an unofficial remake of Maula Jatt. Dharmendra and Shatrughan Sinha’s characters are based on Sultan Rahi and Mustafa Qureshi’s most famous characters Maula Jatt and Noori Natt.
Although its not a scene by scene replica but bears striking similarity in terms of plot, depiction and treatment.
Indian filmmaker and actor Anurag Kashyap recently took to his Twitter handle to laud Fawad Khan, Mahira Khan and Hamza Ali Abbasi starrer, The Legend of Maula Jatt‘s trailer. “Finally the film I’ve loved so much and the film you really want to see, the trailer is out!” the Gangs of Wasseypur director tweeted along with the link to the trailer on YouTube.
Shaheen Shah Afridi has been ruled out of the Asia Cup, as well as the seven-match T20I series at home against England in September because of a knee injury.
Pakistan will play against arch-rivals India in the Asia Cup in Dubai on August 28.
Every player of our playing 11 is a match winner. Wishing my team the best of luck for upcoming Asia Cup.
To the fans, keep me in your prayers for my quick recovery. I’ll be back soon Inshallah pic.twitter.com/jW9gGpWWQX
“Shaheen Shah Afridi has been advised 4-6 weeks rest by the PCB Medical Advisory Committee and independent specialists following latest scans and reports. This means Shaheen has been ruled out of the ACC T20 Asia Cup and home series against England, but is expected to return to competitive cricket in October with the New Zealand T20I tri-series, which will be followed by the ICC Men’s T20 World Cup Australia 2022,” said Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) in a press release.
“Shaheen had suffered a right knee ligament injury while fielding during the first Test against Sri Lanka in Galle.” “I have spoken with Shaheen and he is understandably upset with the news, but he is brave young man who has vowed to come back strongly to serve his country and team. Although he has made progress during his rehabilitation in Rotterdam, it is now clear he will require more time and is likely to return to competitive cricket in October,” said PCB Chief Medical Officer Dr Najeebullah Soomro.
Shaheen’s replacement for the ICC T20 Asia Cup is yet to be announced.
The Pakistani consulate in Dubai has advised Islamabad that Pakistanis visiting Dubai should have a valid work visa, AED 5,000 and a return ticket with them when travelling to the United Arab Emirates (UAE).
The development came after 80 Pakistanis were deported from the UAE for having fake return tickets and other reasons.
The consular staff of Pakistan was informed that over 80 Pakistanis had been turned away by the UAE immigration authorities for various reasons. Forty Pakistanis were flown back to Pakistan on the same flight that brought them to Dubai, and the remaining half were sent back on alternate planes that were available.
The consulate urged the Ministry of Foreign Affairs to inform Pakistani passengers seeking work in the UAE to obtain a valid work visa.
Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) Chairman Imran Khan in his interview with The Guardian spoke at length about media freedom during his time as prime minister, forced disappearance in Pakistan, and Afghanistan.
‘We never tried to oppress the media’: Khan
“In my time, we never tried to oppress the media. The only problem was that sometimes the … security agencies — three or four times we found out that picked someone up and immediately when we found out we would immediately have them released,” said Khan.
They [security people] were responsible for picking up people: Khan
“They [security forces] were responsible for picking up people, but according to them they were involved in this insurgency, which was going on in Balochistan and the tribal area bordering Afghanistan. So they would blame that, with some justification, because you could not convict terrorists in the courts because you wouldn’t get witnesses,” said Khan while speaking about forced disappearances and missing persons.
Eventually Afghan women, the Afghan people, will assert their rights: Imran Khan
“Eventually Afghan women, the Afghan people, will assert their rights. They are strong people,” he said. “But if you push the Taliban from the outside, knowing their mindset, they will just put up defences. They just hate outside interference,” said Khan about Afghanistan.
England and Bangladesh are on the top of the list with 125 and 120 points respectively. Each team receives 10 points for a victory, five points for a tie/no result/abandoned match and zero points for a defeat.
The top seven teams and the host team India will automatically qualify for the World Cup 2023.
Late pop singer, Nazia Hassan graced New York with her ethereal presence at Times Square on the eve of her death anniversary thanks to Spotify.
The aesthetic trendsetter in music, who blessed us with some of the greatest songs in Pakistan’s pop music history, tragically passed away on August 13, exactly 22 years ago, with Spotify deservingly paying tribute to her on August 13 at the iconic Times Square with an EQUAL playlist dedicated to her music.
“Nazia Hassan is a name synonymous with finesse and soulful rhymes. Her influence on the subcontinent continues to be emulated and admired until this day, even after her passing. Making her debut with the song Aap Jaisa Koi in 1980, she and her brother Zoheb Hassan have sold more than 65 million records worldwide. Having won the Filmfare Award for Best Female Playback Singer at 15 in 1981, she remains the first Pakistani and the youngest recipient of the accolade to date,” stated a press release issued by the music streaming platform.
It further added, “As the world celebrates the 22nd anniversary of her passing on Aug 13, EQUAL Pakistan acknowledges her profound impact on Pakistan’s music ecosystem. With her brother Zoheb Hassan, Nazia holds enormous respect and affection for her music and contributions to social causes.”
