Tag: Qatar

  • Pakistan’s Ahsan Ramzan reaches final of IBSF World Snooker Championship

    Pakistan’s Ahsan Ramzan reaches final of IBSF World Snooker Championship

    Pakistan’s 16-year-old Ahsan Ramzan has qualified for the finals of the IBSF World Snooker Championship, which is being played in Qatar.

    Ahsan Ramzan defeated world defending champion, Mohammad Asif, who is also a Pakistani, to reach the final.

    Ramzan got emotional after beating his senior, Mohammad Asif with deciding frames 5-4 in the semi-final match.

    Mohammad Asif was leading a game with 2-0. However, the game became crucial in the third frame. The margin of victory in the frame decreased drastically as Ahsan Ramzan leveled the score with 2-2. He knocked out Asif in the ninth set.

    Ahsan Ramzan will play the final match today with Iranian player, Amir Sarkhosh who defeated Pakistani player with 5-4.

    Mohammad Asif was leading a game with 2-0. However, the game became crucial in the third frame. The margin of victory in the frame decreased drastically as Ahsan Ramzan levelled the score with 2-2. He knocked out Asif in the ninth set.

    Ahsan Ramzan will play the final match today with Iranian player, Amir Sarkhosh.

  • Pakistan rescues woman in love gone wrong, saves wife left in Indian jail by husband

    Pakistan rescues woman in love gone wrong, saves wife left in Indian jail by husband

    Pakistan has issued a nationality certificate, which will lead to becoming a citizen of Pakistan, to a stateless woman, Sumaira who has been stranded in India for four years. It was issued after verification by National Database and Registration Authority (NADRA) and her family. Pakistan Interior Minister has sent her nationality certificate to Foreign Ministry.

    Pakistan High Commission in India, New Delhi will issue travel documents and she will be able to come to Pakistan with her daughter who is four-years-old.

    According to her lawyer, Sohana Biswapatna, Sumaira was born in Qatar to Pakistani parents who moved from Karachi for employment. She married an Indian Muslim for love in Qatar without the consent of her parents. She illegally moved to India with her husband in 2016.

    Sumaira and her husband were arrested in 2017. However, her husband, who faced the charges of facilitating a foreign intruder, was released on bail after a few months. She remained in jail.

    She gave birth to a daughter in prison.

    The message she sent through her lawyer to BBC, “I have been punished by law for the mistake I made, but my sorrows and pains are not diminishing. The family had already separated, but now the husband in India has also turned away. At the moment, my only recourse is my country, Pakistan.”

    According to Sumaira, she wanted to confess her crime but her husband stopped her from giving a statement. The husband thought that India would deport her if she confessed. He was trying to find a way to release her from jail and settle her in India.

    Her case was stalled in India for three years as she did not confess to her crime.

    Her husband stopped visiting her and attending her calls without any explanation around after two to three years. After losing hope of reunion, she confessed to her crime.

    She was sentenced to a three year imprisonment, which she has already completed.

    Currently, she is living in a state shelter in Bengaluru, Karnataka, a state of India.

  • New Zealand denies re-entry of pregnant national, Taliban offers refuge

    New Zealand denies re-entry of pregnant national, Taliban offers refuge

    A former Al Jazeera pregnant journalist, Charlotte Bellis, who is a New Zealand national, was denied re-entry by her home country on the basis of strict Covid-19 protocol. She was offered refuge by the Taliban government in Afghanistan.

    While speaking to Radio New Zealand(RNZ) from Kabul, she said, “This just feels like such a breach of trust.”

    Bellis said that the Taliban told her, “We’re happy for you, you can come and you won’t have a problem”.

    She did not get to know about her pregnancy until she returned back to the Al-Jazeera headquarter in Doha, Qatar.

    She kept quiet about her pregnancy as it is unlawful to conceive a baby out of wedlock in Qatar.

    She left Al Jazeera in November 2021 while working in Afghanistan as a journalist and went to Belgium, the home country of her partner, Jim Huylebroek. As Bellis is not a resident of a country, she could not stay for a longer period.

    She was left with only one option: to travel to Afghanistan with her partner as they had visas. She is currently in Afghanistan.

    Meanwhile, she started her preparation to return back to New Zealand.

    Her application was rejected by authorities in New Zealand for an emergency return.

    New Zealand’s Covid-19 response minister, Chris Hipkins, said on Monday, “I understand she wanted to return on a specific date and that officials reached out to her for more information shortly after looking at her application. The emergency allocation criteria includes a requirement to travel to New Zealand within the next 14 days. Ms Bellis indicated she did not intend to travel until the end of February and has been encouraged by MIQ (Managed isolation and quarantine) to consider moving her plans forward.”

    Bellis applied for a MIQ option through the medical treatment pathway however authority asked her to sign up under the different category where its nationals are in a location that is under serious risk to their safety, she told to RNZ.

    Currently, she is in contact with officials in New Zealand who claimed her rejected application is under review now.

    The New Zealand government has closed down its borders after the emergence of the omicron variant, including for its nationals who want to return back to the country except for special circumstances.

  • FIFA World Cup Qatar 2022 tickets go on sale

    FIFA World Cup Qatar 2022 tickets go on sale

    Tickets for the FIFA (Federation Internationale de Football Association) World Cup Qatar 2022 have been put on sale which is set to be played from November 21 until December 18 2022.

    Qatari residents will benefit from subsidised tickets, with prices starting from just under $11 (Rs1,938). However, for international fans prices are starting from $69 (Rs12,158) that go up to $1,607 (Rs283,175). There will also be cheaper accessibility tickets available for those with disabilities.

    Fans applying for tickets until February 8 will go into a draw with those who are successful to be notified by March 8.

    It is reported that seven stadiums in Qatar have been purpose-built and one refurbished for the World Cup but as there will not be enough hotels some fans may have to stay on cruise ships for the event.

    Qatar is the first Arab and Middle Eastern country to be hosting the biggest event of football. However, it has not yet been announced by either FIFA or the local organising committee how many fans will be allowed into stadiums.

    Currently, the Arab country has imposed tight restrictions on visitors including quarantine for new arrivals.

  • Miracle baby delivered by passenger during flight to Uganda

    Miracle baby delivered by passenger during flight to Uganda

    A Canadian doctor helped a woman deliver a baby during an overnight flight to Uganda. The mother, a migrant worker who was on her way home was about to deliver her first child on the plane to Uganda from Saudi Arabia , when the Qatar Airways staff asked if there was a doctor on board.

    Dr. Ayesha Khatib, a professor at the University of Toronto, sprang into action when she answered an urgent appeal on Qatar Airways’ intercom for a medical professional.

    The baby, named ‘Miracle Ayesha’ after Dr Khatib, was born healthy, despite being early at 35 weeks.

    “I see a crowd of people gathered around the patient,” Dr Khatib told BBC. At this point, she was wondering if someone was having a heart attack.

    “As I got closer, I see this woman lying on the seat with her head toward the aisle and feet towards the window. And the baby was coming out!”

    Dr Khatib was helped by two other passengers, an oncology nurse and a pediatrician. She said that the baby was crying “robustly”. After she quickly checked the baby, she passed her on to the pediatrician for further checks.

    “I looked at the baby, and she was stable, and I looked at the mom and she was OK,” said Dr Khatib.

    “So I was like, ‘Congratulations it’s a girl.’ Then the entire plane started clapping and cheering and was like ‘Oh right, I’m on a plane and everybody is watching this.’”

    “The best part of the story is that she decided to name the baby after me,” says Dr Khatib.

  • Qatar announces visa on arrival for Pakistanis

    Qatar has issued a new immigration policy directives to the concerned authorities in this regard. According to details, Pakistani citizens would be granted a 30-day tourist visa upon arrival at the airport for a fee of QAR 100 (4378.22 PKR) valid for a period of 30 days, which can be extended for a similar period.

    Following are the conditions to get a visa on arrival:

    Valid passport for at least six months.

    Confirmed return ticket.

    Polio vaccination certificate

    Confirmed hotel reservation in one of the country’s hotels during the visit period.

    Fully vaccinated with vaccines approved by the Ministry of Public Health and completing a period of 14 days after the last dose.

    Must have a certificate confirming negative PCR test completed during 48 hours from the time of arrival.

  • Not concerned by the contacts between India and Afghan Taliban, says Moeed Yusuf

    Not concerned by the contacts between India and Afghan Taliban, says Moeed Yusuf

    National Security Adviser Dr Moeed Yusuf while speaking on Dawn News programme ‘Live with Adil Shahzeb’ said that India should be ashamed of meeting the Afghan Taliban  after having supported operations against the insurgent group for a long time.

    Yusuf was responding to the Indian External Affairs Minister Subrahmanyam Jaishankar’s recent stopovers in Doha to meet with the Taliban leadership twice in the last three weeks.

    “I want to ask this: with what [moral] standing did this Indian high-level official meet [the Taliban] there? Did they not feel ashamed?” Yusuf said when asked how Pakistan viewed the India-Taliban meetings.

    “[The Indians] kept having the Taliban killed daily and kept giving funds for operations against them and today they have reached there to have talks,” he added.

    Yusuf said the meetings were “a matter of shame” and not a strategic move.

    He emphasised that the Taliban, whom the Indians had met, were also “not stupid”, saying he was not concerned by the contacts between India and the insurgent group amid the United States withdrawal from Afghanistan.

    “You should also ask what response the [Indians] got from the [Taliban],” he added.

    Speaking about Pakistan-India relations, the NSA said there were no backdoor talks or dialogue between the two countries for now.

    ‘’India contacted us [and said] that they wanted to fix [relations] and we told them we desired the restoration of pre-August 2019 status of Indian-occupied Kashmir; besides, our policy is based on the ease of life for Kashmiris,’’ he stated.

  • Norway takes back decision to boycott Qatar World Cup 2022

    Norway takes back decision to boycott Qatar World Cup 2022

    Norwegian Football Federation (NFF) on Sunday ruled out the decision of boycotting next year’s FIFA World Cup in Qatar, amid the pressure from grassroots activists over accusations of the mistreatment of migrant workers.

    As per reports, a congress was called by the federation to make a final decision in which 368 delegates voted for a motion rejecting a boycott while 121 were in favour.

    In addition to this, Sandvik, spokesman of the Norwegian Supporters Alliance (NSA), said the matches in Qatar will “unfortunately be like playing on a cemetery”.

    The movement was highlighted when the Norwegian professional football club, Tromsø IL, spoke out against the Gulf State. This year in March, Norwegian National Football players wore t-shirts with the slogan ‘Human rights, on and off the pitch’, as they were warming up before FIFA World Cup Qatar 2022 qualification match.

    Norway is currently fourth in its World Cup qualifying group and hasn’t qualified for a major international Football competition since Euro 2000.

    It is to be noted that not only Norway but other European countries such as Germany and Netherlands have protested against the Gulf State.

    The major reason behind the boycott is that a media report published earlier this month alleged that approximately 6,500 migrant workers from South Asia had died in Qatar since 2010 when the country was awarded hosting rights of the 2022 tournament. In the past, there were also a lot of protests against harsh working conditions, especially during the summer, they are forced to work under the scorching sun.

    There is a lack of rights for migrant workers, who comprise about 95 percent of Qatar’s population, reports Al Jazeera.

  • Senior journalist accuses close aide of PM of disrupting Pak-Qatar ties; Twitter is guessing who…

    Senior journalist accuses close aide of PM of disrupting Pak-Qatar ties; Twitter is guessing who…

    Senior journalist Arif Hameed Bhatti has accused a close aide of Prime Minister (PM) Imran Khan of disrupting Pakistan-Qatar business ties.

    Speaking during a talk show on Saturday, Bhatti claimed that a cabinet member, who is also an advisor of the premier, visited Qatar and snubbed the government by asking to start personal business ties.

    He went on to claim that the issue was also discussed in the recently-held cabinet meeting.

    When the host of the current affairs programme, Paras Jahanzaib, asked Bhatti to name the advisor who visited Qatar and told the authorities to end business ties with the Pakistan government, Hameed seemed reluctant to answer, but Twitterati have not been holding back their guesses.

    What do they owe their guesses to? Well, this clip from the show…

    WATCH VIDEO:

    What do you think of the claims? Let The Current know in the comments below…

  • Nawaz’s election campaign was funded by Gulf country, claims Sheikh Rasheed

    Nawaz’s election campaign was funded by Gulf country, claims Sheikh Rasheed

    Interior Minister Sheikh Rasheed has claimed that a Gulf country funded former prime minister Nawaz Sharif’s election campaign in the 1990s.

    In an interview with Samaa, the minister said that he was a minister in the cabinet of Nawaz Sharif at the time. Rasheed said he was accompanying Nawaz Sharif when it was revealed that the country, that is rich in oil and gas and also has an LNG deal with Pakistan, funded the former PM’s party as a “token of love”.

    According to the minister, the Arab country leader asked Nawaz: “Mr Prime Minister, we have given you a token of love on your election expenditure. Did you receive it?”

    At this, Nawaz responded that yes, he had received the money, said Rasheed, adding that he asked Nawaz to send them a ‘thank you note’ at least.

    It may be noted here that PM Imran Khan had alleged that the Pakistan People’s Party (PPP) and Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) received funds from foreign countries. The comments by the PM came in the wake of the hearings of a foreign funding case against the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI).

    Last week, the PTI had said that its agents managing two limited liability companies (LLCs) in the US could be responsible for any illegal funding and PTI Chairman Imran Khan had nothing to do with it.

    In a response to the petition in the foreign funding case, the PTI, that had denied any links to the foreign funding, said that if the two LLC registered after the written instructions of party chief Imran Khan were involved in the illegal act, it would be due to its agents who were managing them in the US.

    The case was filed by PTI founding member Akbar S Babar in 2014. The Election Commission of Pakistan had started fresh scrutiny of the PTI accounts — a process going on since March 2018.