Tag: Top News

  • Firing at Salman Khan’s house was ‘just a trailer’, say attackers

    Firing at Salman Khan’s house was ‘just a trailer’, say attackers

    New update

    The Mumbai Crime Branch has arrested two gunmen, Vicky Gupta and Sagar Pal, for firing outside Salman Khan’s house in Bandra West. They were captured in Gujarat’s Bhuj district after leaving Mumbai following the incident. The police will question them further in Mumbai and present them in court. The shooters fired four shots from a motorcycle but luckily, no one was injured. Salman Khan was at home during the shooting. The suspects then abandoned their motorcycle near a church, traveled by train and autorickshaw to escape. Both are linked to Anmol Bishnoi, the brother of a known criminal. The arrest is a significant step in the investigation to uncover the motive behind the shooting and any connections to criminal networks.

    Anmol Bishnoi, brother of gangster Lawrence Bishnoi, who claimed responsibility for the shooting outside Bollywood actor Salman Khan’s residence in Mumbai, has issued another threat to the superstar.

    “Yesterday, outside Salman Khan’s residence, two people wearing helmets on motorbikes opened fire,” said the police. A case has been registered, according to which one of the two suspects who fired is from Gurugram, but the suspects have been arrested.
    According to Indian media reports, “Gangster Lawrence Bishnoi’s brother has accepted responsibility of the shooting on social media.” Reports stated that through a Facebook post, Anmol Bishnoi, warned Salman Khan, “We want peace, but if the decision is war, then we agree, Salman Khan! We have done this to show you the trailer so that you understand our capabilities and don’t test us. This is our first and last warning to you, after that bullets will not be fired just at houses.”

    Salman Khan’s father Saleem Khan, talking to Indian media, said that “My family was not harmed during the shooting, the shots fired by unknown persons were an attempt to gain public attention. Yes, the accused only want publicity, so no need to worry.”

  • PTI-JUI-F dosti on the cards?

    PTI-JUI-F dosti on the cards?

    Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) and Jamiat Ulema-e-Islam-Fazl (JUI-F) have decided to increase their contacts on a party level. The former ruling party has launched a movement against rigging in recent general elections.

    Asad Qaiser, a PTI central leader, also confirmed that he talked on phone with JUI-F chief Maulana Fazlur Rehman and wished him a happy Eid ul Fitr.

    “We exchanged views on the current political situation and the process of forming a government in our telephonic conversation,” Qaiser said in a statement, adding that both sides agreed on increasing party-level contacts.

    The former National Assembly (NA) speaker also spoke about his party’s concerns regarding Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz’s (PML-N) coalition government with the Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) after the February 8 polls, calling for an organised public movement, calling it essential.

    The senior politician said that the PTI and the JUI-F have “ideological coordination” regarding the public movement.

  • Halaat kb behtar honge? Finance Minister gives timeline for structural reforms

    Halaat kb behtar honge? Finance Minister gives timeline for structural reforms

    Finance Minister Muhammad Aurangzeb spoke at the US think tank Atlantic Council in Washington DC, stating that Pakistan needs two or three years to implement structural reforms prescribed by International Monetary Fund (IMF).

    The minister remarked that Pakistan does not need any more policy prescription from the IMF because it knows what it needs to do in terms of reforms.

    “We have known the what and why not for years but for decades. […] It’s time for us to actually start moving the execution of these aspects and why we’re looking for a larger and extended program, so once we get into the execution we will need a two to three-year time period to go through the structural reforms,” said Aurangzeb, previously the head of Pakistan’s largest bank.

    The minister also remarked that if Pakistan failed to implement reforms, then it would be looking at another IMF program later.

    The Finance czar was of the opinion that Pakistan entered 2024 in a much better economic shape and credited the nine-month Stand-By Arrangement (SBA) programme.

    He also emphasized that needs to bring the under-taxed and untaxed sectors into the national tax net and also said that taxation process needed reforms.

  • Bushra Bibi wants to leave Banigala sub-jail and go to Adiala Jail, court refuses request

    Bushra Bibi wants to leave Banigala sub-jail and go to Adiala Jail, court refuses request

    The Islamabad High Court (IHC) turned down Bushra Bibi’s application, where she had requested a transfer from Bani Gala sub-jail to Adiala jail.

    IHC judge Mian Gul Hasan Aurangzeb heard the petition and showed discontent as the lawyer of the former first lady was late to court. Judge Aurangzeb rejected Bushra’s request, without the lawyer present.

    After the rejection was announced, Bushra’s lawyer Shoaib Shaheen reached court and said that he was late due to the long wait at checkposts.
    After her request to move to jail was denied, Shaheen urged the court to do a medical examination and address her health concerns. Bushra has alleged that she is being ‘slowly poisoned‘ at home.

  • PML-N leaders lambast the Faizabad Commission report

    PML-N leaders lambast the Faizabad Commission report

    Defence Minister Khawaja Asif has criticized the recently published report of the Faizabad Sit-in Inquiry Commission which gave a clean chit to the former Director-General of Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI) General (retd.) Faiz Hamid and blamed the then-government for the entire event.

    Asif opined that the report was neither authentic nor reliable, saying, “Faizabad commission was a joke as General (retd) Hamid and former army chief Gen (retd) Qamar Javed Bajwa did not appear before the commission but only political workers like me did.”

    Questioning the reliability of the commission members, the defence minister said that they were not serious when he appeared before the commission.

    “The Faizabad inquiry commission must introspect about whether it fulfilled its duty or not,” he added.

    Meanwhile, Khurram Dastgir, a senior PML-N member remarked on GTV that Pakistan has its own parliament and that is the only constitutional and right way to investigate this matter.

    “Without accruing criminal liability, parliament must call all those actors to inquire the allegations,” said the former defence minister.

    “We shouldn’t leave this up to the annals of history but bring out the truth through parliament,” remarked Dastgir.

    Remember the Faizabad dharna? The 2017 Faizabad sit-in was organized by Tehreek-i-Labbaik Pakistan (TLP), led by Khadim Rizvi, on November 8 to protest amendments in the Elections Bill specifically the word ‘oath’ changed to ‘declaration’. On November 25, the government clashed with protestors after many attempts of ‘peace talks’, resulting in nationwide protests and the deaths of more than six people across Pakistan.

    Earlier, the Faizabad Dharna Inquiry Commission was formed after accusations were raised that the then Major General DG (Counter Intelligence), General Faiz (who later became D.G. ISI) was involved in the dharna to pressurise the government and to investigate the TLP 2017 sit-in. The Commission has finalized its report, seven years later, and has sent its report to the federal government. The report completely exonerates General (retd.) Faiz Hamid from any responsibilities in the incident.

    The three-member commission was headed by retired police officer Syed Akhtar Ali Shah and consisted of former IGP Islamabad Tahir Alam Khan and Additional Interior Secretary Khushal Khan.

    The report put the onus on the then-ruling PMLN government, for mishandling the right-wing religious party’s violent sit-in.

    The report said that the fallout from the Faizabad dharna was “more due to lack of courage of conviction of the leader handling the issue and in particular the government of Punjab”.

    The report stated that former Prime Minister Shahid Khaqan Abbasi had “confirmed that no individual/organization was involved in organizing or facilitating Faizabad Dharna”.

    Moreover, Mr Ahsan Iqbal, Mr Zahid Hamid, Mian Shehbaz Sharif and the then Intelligence Bureau (IB) Chief were also asked about the alleged role of agencies in supporting the march and they all denied such allegations.

  • Lahore High Court annuls clause of age difference between boy and girl in constitution

    Lahore High Court annuls clause of age difference between boy and girl in constitution

    The Lahore High Court (LHC) has ordered the amendment of Child Marriage Act 1929, a law made 95 years ago under which the legal age of marriage for a boy is 18 years and for a girl is 16 years, annulling the provision of age difference between males and females.

    Justice Shahid Kareem of Lahore High Court issued a five-page written judgment in which it is said that there is a need to take effective measures against child marriage. The high court declared “discriminatory” the specific portion of the legislation — Section 2(a) and (b) of the 95-year-old Act — which fixes different legal ages for males and females eligible for marriage.

    “The extract set out above makes a compelling case based on physiological and sociological factors for the executive to step up and take effective measures to counter the debilitating effect of child marriage,” the verdict read.

    The court decision said that under the constitution, all citizens are equal in the eyes of the law, no citizen can be discriminated against, whereas in the Child Marriage Act, 1929, the age difference between a boy and a girl is discrimination, making this age difference unconstitutional and void.

    It is said that the government should amend the Child Marriage Act in 15 days in the light of the court decision, reports The News.

    “In sum, the words in section 2(a) viz. “if a male ….and if a female is under sixteen years of age” being unconstitutional are held to be without lawful authority and of no legal effect. They are struck down,” the verdict stressed and added “The Govt of Punjab (its relevant department) is directed to issue the revised version of 1929 Act (based on this judgment) within the next fifteen days.”

  • Ali Haider Zaidi accepts that PTI government relied too much on Gen Faiz

    Ali Haider Zaidi accepts that PTI government relied too much on Gen Faiz

    In a talk show on ARY News, Kashif Abbasi asked senior Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) leader Ali Haider Zaidi about the biggest mistake of the PTI government in his personal opinion. Zaidi remarked that their handling of political matters was weak.

    When the anchor asked the PTI leader whether there was too much reliance on General Faiz and establishment on convincing other MNAs on passing any bills in the parliament, Zaidi replied, “Imran Khan has accepted this himself, Khan said that we [Khan and establishment] were on very good terms and they used to help us during passing of budgets.”

    He remarked that in hindsight that was the biggest mistake PTI government made during their tenure but at the time it was difficult to comprehend due to the fog of war.

    He also emphasized that in every democratic society, decision-making should be completely political.

    Ali Zaidi said that he’s not coming back to politics until he “clears a lot of things with Imran Khan”. And then he asked the anchor, “Have I ever said anything against Imran Khan? Have I ever tweeted against PTI? Did I say anything against PTI since I’ve been in your program?”

    He blamed the party’s Core Committee for letting his family be vilified online due to their deliberate lies. “My daughter comes home from school and asks what they are saying about us,” he recounted.

    He emphasized that the committee members deliberately lie to get to upper ranks and expose internal party differences in public. He said that he would need to talk these things over with Imran Khan and let him know what these people did to us.

  • Waste not want not: Peruvian drive to feed more with less

    Waste not want not: Peruvian drive to feed more with less

    Peruvian cook Isabel Santos prepares a salad with carrot peels and pea shells at a community kitchen in Lima; a disciple of a sustainable cuisine movement seeking to tackle hunger and food waste at the same time.

    With five other women, she works at making 150 tasty, vitamin-packed servings that include “the peels of potatoes, peas, carrots, leeks and ginger that we used to throw away,” the 76-year-old told AFP.

    Santos is a follower of the “Optimum Kitchen” concept of renowned Peruvian chef Palmiro Ocampo, who promotes the concept of nose-to-tail cooking — part of a more planet-friendly food drive increasingly finding a following world-wide.

    “There is no such thing as waste,” Ocampo, 40, told AFP on a recent visit to Santos’s Maria Parado de Bellido kitchen in a poor district of southern Lima.

    “An ingredient has to be used in its entirety,” he said, in a world where a third of food is wasted while 800 million people go hungry.

    Palmiro and his wife Anyell San Miguel train cooks from Peruvian soup and community kitchens and share recipes through their project Ccori, which means gold in the Indigenous Quechua language and was created 11 years ago to promote “culinary recycling.”

    As a result “more than a ton of ingredients that would normally end up in the garbage have been… turned into delicious food,” said the chef.

    Not only tasty but healthy too: “many of these (formerly discarded) food parts have more nutrients” — vital to combat anemia, which affects more than two in five children in Peru.

  • Sanaullah says party cannot keep promises to people because ‘they didn’t give us majority’

    Sanaullah says party cannot keep promises to people because ‘they didn’t give us majority’

    In a talk show on Public News, anchorperson Iqrah Haris asked former Interior Minister Rana Sanaullah given the promises the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) made during its election campaigns, would it be ready to suffer the consequences if the government is unable to deliver.

    Rana Sanaullah remarked that the N-League would not be responsible for any promises made to the public simply because it is a coalition government.

    “We are not making any promises now, the promises we made were dependent on us getting a simple majority and PML-N making its own government under the leadership of Mian Nawaz Sharif.”

    The PML-N’s senior leader asserted that had the government been granted a majority, it would have borne the responsibility of steering the country out of this economic turmoil.

  • Maryam Nawaz reduces roti price, Nanbai association rejects notification

    Maryam Nawaz reduces roti price, Nanbai association rejects notification

    Chief Minister Punjab Maryam Nawaz has announced a reduction in the prices of simple roti.

    As per her announcement, the price is reduced to Rs 16 for roti weighing 100 gram while that of Naan is Rs 20 which has to weigh 120 gram.

    The prices will be implemented across the province from today, reported Jang.

    Maryam Nawaz instructed authorities that all the districts and relevant departments of Punjab have to ensure the strict implementation of the decision.

    President Nanbai Association Shafiq Qureshi said that they are ready to reduce the price of bread if the Punjab government gives a subsidy. However, associations across the province rejected the decision of the Punjab government.

    Talking about the decision to reduce the price of roti, Shafiq Qureshi said that the price of a bag of fine flour is 12 thousand 200 rupees while the price of ordinary flour is 11 thousand 600 rupees per bag, pointing out that fhe government is not giving any subsidy on gas and electricity. Nanbais use LPG gas which makes it impossible to reduce the price of bread.