Tag: Pakistan

  • Pak-China relations to restrengthen pledges Chinese delegation leader

    Pak-China relations to restrengthen pledges Chinese delegation leader

    Pak-China relations to re-strengthen, pledges Chinese delegation leader
    Chinese politician and Director of China’s Central Foreign Affairs Commission Yang Jiechi pledged to help re-strengthen Pakistan-China relations as he kickstarted his two-day trip to Islamabad with a meeting with Army Chief General Qamar Javed Bajwa on Wednesday.

    “He assured to play his role for further improvement in diplomatic cooperation with Pakistan at all levels,” said the Inter-services Public Relations (ISPR) Director-General (DG) Major-General Babar Iftikhar after the meeting with the army chief at the General Headquarters.

    Yang had a meeting with Prime Minister (PM) Shehbaz Sharif on Wednesday as well. The PM highlighted the significance of Director Yang’s visit in furthering the bilateral relations between the two countries across all domains. In particular, the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC) has strengthened the ties between China and Pakistan. The relationship between the two countries would continue to grow and prosper, bringing peace and stability to the region, noted Sharif.

    Yang also met Foreign Minister Bilawal Bhutto-Zardari.

    “The two sides discussed the entire spectrum of bilateral relations and exchanged views on regional and global issues of mutual interest,” the Foreign Office said in a statement.

    The meetings come at a sensitive time as the Pakistan-China relationship seems to be under strain after the April 26 attacks on three Chinese language teachers in Karachi.

  • IK sold three watches to local dealer gifted to him as PM for Rs37 million

    IK sold three watches to local dealer gifted to him as PM for Rs37 million

    Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) Chairman Imran Khan reportedly sold three luxury watches worth more than Rs154 million to a local watch dealer in Islamabad. The watches were gifted to him by visiting dignitaries from Gulf countries when he was Prime Minister (PM), reports The News.

    By selling these watches, Khan earned a whopping amount of Rs37million. According to the news report, instead of buying these watches from Toshakhana with his own money, Khan first sold the watches and then deposited 20 per cent of each in the government treasury.

    It has been revealed that these gifts were never deposited in Toshakhana. These watches were supposed to be submitted to Toshakhana as per the laws that restrict any head of the state to possess the gifts they receive from officials of other countries.

    The most expensive watch among these three was assessed at Rs101 million. However, Khan had declared he sold it for Rs51 million and deposited the 20 per cent of its sales money, which is Rs20 million, in the government treasury, thus earning a whopping Rs31 million. The watch was sold on January 22, 2019.

    By selling a Rolex Platinum watch gifted by a member of a royal family from a Gulf island, Khan almost earned Rs4.5 million profit in November 2018, two months after it was gifted to him.

    Another Rolex watch gifted by a dignitary from the same Gulf island was sold by the former PM. This time Khan made Rs1.5 million profit from this deal.

    It is pertinent to mention that these watches are in addition to the ones reported earlier in the media.

    In April, PM Shehbaz Sharif revealed that Khan took gifts worth Rs140 million from Toshakhana and sold them in Dubai.

    Earlier, responding to the Toshakana controversy, Khan had said they were his gifts, so it was his choice whether to keep them or not.

  • FIA arrests gang teaching black magic on social media

    FIA arrests gang teaching black magic on social media

    The crime wing of the Federal Investigation Agency (FIA) has arrested a gang involved in teaching black magic on social media, Malik Tahseen Raza reports for Dawn.

    According to the FIA, the suspects offered customers entire black magic training on YouTube channels and other social media sites in exchange for millions of rupees. People who were interested were instructed to spend a specific sum of money to have access to premium videos and to purchase ‘wands’, ‘owl blood’ and ‘owl meat’ to engage in witchcraft. The gang also offered their assistance in resolving individuals’ issues via these spiritual avenues.

    One of these channels acquired more than 200,000 followers by teaching easy techniques for learning how to find deposits of gold. People who wanted children and those having difficulty finding love and marriage were their top clients. The suspects occasionally made money by taking pictures and videos of their female clients and later blackmailing them.

    The FIA filed a case against the suspects in accordance with Sections 419, 420, 468, and 471 of the Pakistan Penal Code, Sections 3, 4 of the Anti-Money Laundering Act and 4, 17 and 21 of the Prevention of Electronic Crimes Act, 2016.

  • Surge in Covid-19 cases: PM urges nation to follow SOPs

    Surge in Covid-19 cases: PM urges nation to follow SOPs

    Prime Minister (PM) Shehbaz Sharif has urged Pakistanis to follow Covid-related standard operating procedures (SOPs) amid a surge in coronavirus cases.

    “In view of the resurgence of corona cases in the country, I urge the entire nation to follow the instructions and SOPs related to corona. Our front-line workers and doctors have made many sacrifices to keep us safe. We must not waste these gains against Corona,” tweeted PM Shehbaz.

    Earlier today, PM Shehbaz also chaired a meeting to discuss the Covid-19 situation in the country. The provincial and district governments were given orders by the premier to strictly enforce safety precautions and take additional action to control the spread of the virus.

    The government has decided to increase the number of coronavirus tests.

    Pakistan’s Covid-19 positivity rate has risen to 3.50 per cent today (Wednesday), according to the National Institute of Health (NIH).

    According to NIH data, 451 people were infected with the virus and one death has been reported in the last 24 hours.

  • Loadshedding situation to get better by mid-July, says Musadik Malik

    Loadshedding situation to get better by mid-July, says Musadik Malik

    Minister of State for Petroleum Dr Musadik Malik hoped that the loadshedding situation across the country will get better in the second half of July.

    Earlier, Prime Minister (PM) Shehbaz Sharif warned the nation of more power outages next month.

    Musadik further said that Pakistan is trying to import coal from Afghanistan. He said the major reason behind electricity loadshedding is the water shortage in dams, while the other reasons include coal price hikes and Liquefied Natural Gas (LNG) shortage in the international market.

    “Only 5,000 MegaWatts (MW) of electricity is being generated instead of 9,500 MW,” he said.

    On Monday, residents of Karachi came out on the streets due to the persistent loadshedding in their areas. The protests continued for more than 24 hours.

    Interestingly, the government has pledged to decrease loadshedding several times. Earlier this month, PM Shehbaz instructed the power authorities to reduce loadshedding throughout the country to two hours. However, the situation remained the same.

  • Video: Karachiites protest against load-shedding, clashes erupt between police protesters

    Video: Karachiites protest against load-shedding, clashes erupt between police protesters

    Residents of Karachi came out on the streets in the late hours of Monday to protest against the unannounced and prolonged load-shedding in their areas.

    On Tuesday morning, the police used tear gas and baton-charged protestors in an effort to disperse the crowd, which resulted in a clash between the two.

    According to Dawn, the demonstrators have been protesting since last night, burnt tyres, and blocked the road for traffic, which has caused traffic problems.

    The chairman of the All Pakistan Fruit and Vegetable Exporters, Importers and Merchants Association (PFVA) Aslam Pakhali said that over 100 shipping containers carrying mangoes and potatoes are worth an estimated Rs250 million were stuck in traffic since Monday evening.

    https://twitter.com/nshz22/status/1541682874750947328?s=20&t=OIuOxKPZe5onCToMDfxlBw

    According to Senior Superintendent of Police (SSP) Asif Bughio, electricity in several areas of Lyari has been suspended since 4pm yesterday (Monday). He claimed that the police tried to negotiate with them but they attacked the law enforcers with stones.

    Their protest has continued for more than 20 hours now.

    According to media reports, in Karachi’s Gadap Town, the load-shedding time has gone up to 18 hours in a day. Similarly, Shah Faisal Colony, Malir, Surjani Town, Gulistan-e-Jauhar, and other areas are seeing power outages of 14 hours or more.

    Following the incidents, Sindh Energy Minister Imtiaz Ahmad Shaikh contacted K-Electric Chief Executive Moonis Alvi. He noted that load-shedding has made the lives of people miserable.

    “Due to persistent load-shedding, the security situation is deteriorating,” he told the KE official.

    A day earlier, Prime Minister (PM) Shehbaz Sharif warned the nation that they might face increased load-shedding in the coming month of July.

  • Four dead in attack on polio team in North Waziristan

    Four dead in attack on polio team in North Waziristan

    One polio worker and three others have been killed as a result of an attack on the polio team in North Waziristan.

    According to North Waziristan DSP Traffic Sher Wali Khan, during a polio vaccination drive in the Dand Kali neighbourhood of Tehsil Datta Khel, unknown assailants opened fire on the polio team, killing two police officers, one polio worker, and a passerby. The incident happened as the polio worker was giving a young patient the oral polio vaccine (OPV).

    Pakistan has reported at least six cases of polio this year, As per the World Health Organisation (WHO), Pakistan and Afghanistan are the only two polio-endemic nations in the world.

    Prime Minister (PM) Shehbaz Sharif has expressed his grief over the incident and has ordered an inquiry.

  • Indian girl stopped from crossing border to meet Pakistani guy

    Indian girl stopped from crossing border to meet Pakistani guy

    An Indian Muslim 24-year-old woman from Madhya Pradesh (MP) was caught by the authorities at the Attari border in Amritsar, Punjab on Thursday when she was trying to cross the border to meet her Pakistani boyfriend, reports The Times of India.

    Fiza met the Pakistan man Dilshad, who lives in Karachi through social media. They fell in love and decided to get married.

    According to the Indian media, Fiza Khan had a valid visa and travel documents but was stopped at Integrated Check Post (ICP), Attari, due to a Lookout Circular (LOC) issued against her.

    Fiza, a teacher working in a private school went missing from Rewa district in MP on June 16. According to the police, after her disappearance, Fiza’s family members lodged a missing complaint. Since she had already discussed traveling to Pakistan, a LOC was issued against her.

    When she was held, the Gharinda police station recorded her statement and sent her to Nari Niketan orphanage. Later on Saturday, she was handed over to a police team from Rewa.

    This is not the first time that such an incident has happened. In 2018 a woman crossed the border and married a Gujranwala-based man whom she met while playing an online game.

  • In Pakistan, is abortion just a word or choice?

    ‘Woman of bad character’ is one of the phrases we often hear when the word ‘abortion’ is mentioned in our country. Abortion means the deliberate termination of a human pregnancy, most often performed during the first 28 weeks of pregnancy. Abortion sparked a debate after the United States (US) Supreme Court overturned Roe v Wade, a landmark ruling that granted the right to abortion. The court determined that there is no constitutional right to an abortion, leaving it up to the states to decide whether or not to allow abortions.

    According to a 2020 article in ‘Soch writing’, Pakistan has an annual abortion rate of 50 per 1,000 women as per a 2012 survey, the highest in South Asia and one of the highest in the world. (A previous study estimated a rate of 27 per 1,000 women in 2002).

    So at present, we understand the meaning of abortion but what we don’t understand is why is it required. A woman conceives a child, but somehow her circumstances lead her to the “choice” of not having the child anymore, and “she ends up deciding of quitting the will to bring a child into this world”. What happens next? She decides to “abort” the baby. Will she be “allowed” to do so? What if the woman was raped and conceived the child as a result of sexual assault? What if she is in an abusive marriage and doesn’t want to risk another life at the hands of her partner? What if the child conceived is a serious threat to the mother’s health? What if both parents are drug addicts? What if they don’t have the financial means to nurture a child? What if both parents carry childhood traumas that they haven’t fully recovered from? What if they are simply not ready? The situations are plenty but they all lead to one word, “choice”. A choice that a woman and her partner must have. A choice to decide when to bring another life into this world and their lives.

    Women in Pakistan are no different. They are clearly seeking abortions, and medical practitioners often refuse to perform them or do so only in secret, which are very risky and at times, very expensive —in general, both seekers and providers of abortions tend to believe the procedure is against religion or Pakistani law, or both. So where does it lead us? Education on abortion must be taken up as a priority by the health practitioners and by the individuals involved. Yes, abortion is a big step and comes with its own weight and worries but one’s mind and body should be allowed to make a choice. A choice that doesn’t lead to a judgement about a woman’s character but will only be considered a choice which she freely made for herself. Her body, her choice.