Tag: Pakistan

  • Islamabad’s Monal restaurant to be sealed today after court order

    Islamabad’s Monal restaurant to be sealed today after court order

    The Islamabad High Court (IHC) today has ordered Islamabad’s Chief Commissioner to seal the Monal Restaurant in Margalla Hills National Park and Navy Golf Course after hearing a case against encroachments.

    “It is your responsibility to ensure the orders are implemented and you will oversee them yourself,” said Justice Athar Minallah while referring to Islamabad chief commissioner, Samaa has reported. In response the Commissioner said that he will seal the restaurant himself today.

    “Do you people know what you’re doing with the upcoming generations? All this is very shocking,” the judge said. “Everywhere we see in Islamabad, there’s lawlessness.”

    During the hearing the director-general of the Environmental Protection Authority told the court that the restaurant was sealed twice in the past.

    Earlier in November, IHC banned all kinds of construction in the Margalla Hills National Park (MHNP). Monal Restaurant was built in 2005.

  • ‘Pakistan is still under influence of the US’: Moeed Yusuf

    ‘Pakistan is still under influence of the US’: Moeed Yusuf

    National Security Adviser (NSA) Dr Moeed Yusuf has made a statement that Pakistan’s foreign policy is still not free from the influence of the United States (US).

    In Geo News programme “Jirga”, the advisor said, “It [Pakistan] is still not [free from US influence] and I doubt that there is any country which is free from it.” He added that Pakistan does not have financial and economic independence as it does not have enough assets to meet the requirements of the increase in population.

    “When we cannot fulfill the demands, we seek foreign loans. When you procure loans, your economic sovereignty is compromised,” the national security adviser said.

    Moreover, he said that this affects a country’s foreign policy and when foreign policy is affected, you cannot run the affairs of the country properly.

    Responding to a query about Pakistan-India relations, he said that Islamabad wants to improve ties with New Delhi, but had to halt diplomatic contacts due to India’s on-seriousness and extremist attitude.

  • ‘If five thousand guests come to someone’s house without telling him what he can do’: Fawad on Murree

    ‘If five thousand guests come to someone’s house without telling him what he can do’: Fawad on Murree

    Federal Minister for information and Broadcasting Fawad Chaudhry addressed the tragic Murree incident and said when tens of thousand vehicles enter an area simultaneously there would be chaos.

    According to him, all the vehicles entered Murree within 24 hours despite several warnings from the administration.

    In a press conference along with the Federal Minister of Education Shafqat Mahmood, Fawad said, “If five thousand guests come to someone’s house without telling him what he can do.”

    Referring to Prime Minister (PM) Imran Khan’s statement, “We are looking into the situation. We should learn from such incidents.”

    The federal minister also defended his previous statement that the common man traveling to Murree shows they’re getting rich by saying that the economy is getting “stronger”.

    He urged the media to advise people, not to go to northern areas as they are already full. Moreover, he updated that Express Highway is cleared and the evacuation process is underway.

    Talking about the Opposition’s criticism, he said they just did politics and pointed out Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) Vice President Maryam Nawaz and leader Shahid Khaqan Abbasi.

    As of now, 22 deaths have been reported in Murree. Interior Minister Sheikh Rashid said the authorities would evacuate 1,000 vehicles by today evening, while the roads would remain closed to Murree till tomorrow 9pm.

  • Pakistanis lose almost 1800 crore in crypto-related scam

    Pakistanis lose almost 1800 crore in crypto-related scam

    Pakistanis have lost almost 18 crore in a crypto currency related scam. Almost 55,000 people have become the victim of the scam, Samaa has reported. In total, 11 mobile applications have been identified as part of the fraud.

    As per FIA Cyber Crime Reporting Sindh chief Imran Riaz the applications that are involved include, MCX, HFC, HTFOX, FXCOPY, OKIMINI, BB001, AVG86C, BX66, UG, TASKTOK, 91fp.

    The victims of the scam were promised excessively large returns on their investments by the companies involved, in exchange for bringing in additional investors.

    “They used to give assurance that you won’t lose your money,” said one of the victims. “Some of the users even went all the way to level-8 and when they lost their money, they [the scammers] refunded them.”

    However, on December 19, the apps went down, and everybody who put money into them lost it all. (FIA) has written to international company Binance, requesting an explanation of how money was transferred from Binance accounts to other apps.

    On January 12, 2022, Hamza Khan, the general manager of Binance in Pakistan, has been summoned to appear before the agency.

  • Pakistan loses $250m worth of textile exports due to gas shortage

    Pakistan loses $250m worth of textile exports due to gas shortage

    Pakistan has lost $250m worth of textile exports in December 2021 when the gas supply was suspended for 15 days in the Punjab textile sector.

    Executive Director of All Pakistan Textile Mills Association (APTMA), Shahid Sattar also confirmed the loss of millions of dollars by saying that it will “never be recovered.”

    The government restored gas supply on December 29 with the supply of 75 million cubic feet per day (mmcfd) by mid-January and ensured that the supply would be increased up to the finest level after the extreme winter season was over.

    On the other hand, the sources said that the gas being supplied to the export sector is less than the government announced despite the industry purchasing gas at $9 per Metric Million British Thermal Unit (MMBTU), instead of $6.5 mmcfd during the winters.

    The ministry of Commerce sources also revealed that the smooth supply of electricity was not received by the textile mills in Punjab from the national grid due to interruptions. They further added that it is causing huge losses to the industry, which may go up to $250-400 million per month.

    The textile mills association also sent the letter to the Advisor to Prime Minister on Commerce and Textiles Abdul Razak Dawood on January 7, in which they expressed their serious concern over the interruptions in the supply of electricity.

    The letter said, “Each interruption wastes half an hour and up to two hours in restarting the machinery, resulting in losing material and rendering capacity grossly underutilized.”

    It further added that mills were currently running on 80% capacity, which signifies a 20% loss of exports. “And this adds up to losses between $250-$400 million in exports lost every month”.

  • PM Khan ‘stopped’ NAB chairman from attending parliamentary meeting that the chairman had called himself

    PM Khan ‘stopped’ NAB chairman from attending parliamentary meeting that the chairman had called himself

    Prime Minister (PM) Imran Khan stopped the National Accountability Bureau (NAB) Chairman Justice (R) Javed Iqbal from attending the Public Accounts Committee (PAC) meeting on Thursday which was convened by the chairman himself, reports The News.

    The chairman had asked for an in-camera meeting to present the figures on the recovery from NAB proceedings and its utilisation. Instead of appearing, the chairman asked NAB Director-General (DG) to represent him which resulted in the dismissal of the meeting as a protest.

    It has also been reported that PM Khan also barred the chairman from appearing in any parliamentary committee meeting.

    Opposition members blasted the NAB chairman over his non-attendance and even asked PAC chairman Rana Tanveer to move a privilege motion against him in the National Assembly (NA).

    Tanveer argued that the chairman was accountable to the parliament and he would have to be accountable for the money he had spent during his tenure.

    Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) Senator Saleem Mandviwala said, “NAB is the worst department of Pakistan. It is destroying Pakistan’s economy.”

    This is not the first time that the NAB chairman has avoided such meetings. Last year in December, he appeared before the PAC for the first time but requested to convene an in-camera meeting to review the performance of his organisation.

  • Twitter welcomes first female Supreme Court Judge of Pakistan

    Twitter welcomes first female Supreme Court Judge of Pakistan

    History has been made as a divided Judicial Commission of Pakistan (JCP) approved the nomination of the first woman judge to join the Supreme Court (SC).

    Lahore High Court Justice Ayesha A. Malik’s nomination was secured by a majority of five to four during a heated JCP session that lasted nearly three-and-a-half hours, reports Dawn.

    She may even have a chance to become the first woman to be Chief Justice (CJ) of Pakistan. If she is elevated following approval from an eight-member bipartisan parliamentary committee, Justice Malik will remain a judge of the SC until 2031.

    The justice gave her landmark judgment back in June, when she had declared virginity tests for examination of sexual assault survivors “illegal and against the Constitution of Pakistan”. She was called upon as an expert witness in family law cases conducted in England and Australia involving issues of child custody, divorce, women’s rights, and constitutional protection for women in Pakistan.

    Following the news, congratulations are in order and people have shared their happiness on Twitter.

  • ‘No lockdown for now,’ says NCOC chief despite rising cases

    ‘No lockdown for now,’ says NCOC chief despite rising cases

    The National Command and Operation Center (NCOC) chief Asad Umar said that the government has no intentions of imposing a coronavirus lockdown for now in the country.

    According to Geo News, Asad highlighted that instead of lockdowns, the government is focusing on ramping up vaccinations and strict implementation of the bans placed earlier on certain activities if one is not vaccinated.

    50 per cent of the cases in Sindh are of Omicron and the statistics show that the city’s positivity ratio reached 9.23 per cent on Wednesday.

    Jinnah Sindh Medical University (JSMU) Acting Vice-Chancellor Prof Dr Shahid Rasul said, “Coronavirus cases of the Omicron variant are going up in Karachi because of a lack of vaccinations.”

    Meanwhile, Pakistan’s coronavirus positivity ratio exceeded 2 per cent for the first time since October 14 last year, as 1,085 new infections were detected.

  • ‘Save me from arranged marriage’: Pakistani uses billboards to find wife

    ‘Save me from arranged marriage’: Pakistani uses billboards to find wife

    A United Kingdom (UK) bachelor Muhammad Malik has set up a website called ‘Findmalikawife.com’ and bought several advertising hoardings across Birmingham in order to find a wife.

    “Save me from an arranged marriage,” read the billboards, along with the link to his website.

    On the website, the Pakistani explains, “My ideal partner would be a Muslim woman in her 20s, who’s striving to better her deen (religion). I’m open to any ethnicity but I’ve got a loud Punjabi family so you would need to keep with the bants.”

    “I just haven’t found the right girl yet. It’s tough out there. I had to get a billboard to get seen!” he added.

    The 29-year-old told BBC, “I’m creative and love doing the most random and absurd things.” The billboards will stay up till January 14.

  • Pakistani goes viral for remarkable truck art painted on Nike sneakers

    Pakistani goes viral for remarkable truck art painted on Nike sneakers

    A Pakistani artist Haider Ali is being appreciated on social media for painting a pair of Nike shoes with authentic truck art designs.

    Ali paints the familiar motifs of flowers and kohl-rimmed eyes over the shoes. His craft is unique. Ali explained how he began his journey as a shoe artist. He takes plain Nike shoes and paints them over with authentic truck art designs.

    The painting shows the various wonders of Pakistan’s vibrant cultural landscape.

    His craft was widely appreciated on social media.

    Ali previously made headlines after he honoured George Floyd and the Black Lives Matter movement with a stunning mural in June 2020. “Hum kaaley hain tou kia hua, dil waley hain (So what if we’re dark-skinned? We’ve got big hearts),” reads the mural. It also features another saying that goes, “Goron ki na kaalon ki, Dunya dil walon ki’ (This world belongs neither to whites or blacks, only for those with big hearts).”