The renovation of the world’s largest Sikh shrine and the construction of Kartarpur Corridor project has been completed. Prime Minister Imran Khan will formally inaugurate the corridor on November 9.
The official Twitter handle of PM Imran shared night time pictures of the shrine and its surroundings and the results look brilliant.
PM also waived off the condition of passport for Sikh pilgrims to provide maximum facilities to them on the occasion of Baba Guru Nanak’s 550th birthday.
A 150 feet high Pakistan flag has been hoisted near the immigration center. The building is painted in white and the finishing has been done in gold.
Buses will be ready to receive Indian guests from the border. Scanners for checking luggage have also been installed at the gates of Gurdwara Sahib.
The Kartapur Corridor project will also have a tent village to provide to 10,000 pilgrims and the Mehman Khana to facilitate over 700 pilgrims if they want to stay the night. For the facilitation of pilgrims, a medical emergency center and kiosk area have also been constructed.
Hamza Ali Abbasi and Sajal Aly’s Alif hit screens early October amid a lot of hype and fanfare. This is their first pairing and fans were naturally excited to see two acting powerhouses come together. Not only that, the speculation that this might be Hamza’s last venture also added to the drama’s attraction.
So far five episodes of Alif have aired and though the drama’s plotline is engrossing and interesting, it’s slow pace distracts you from it.
Alif follows the life of two individuals Momin and Momina – oh the irony. The two belong to completely different worlds: Momin is a hotshot director who objectifies women and promotes vulgarity to sell his films, while Momina is a struggling actor, who is only in the profession to raise money for her sick brother. Their paths cross when Momina auditions for one of the Momin’s films and given their dissenting views, they clash.
Till now, the drama largely focuses on Momin and his relationship with his grandfather with constant flashbacks to his childhood and Momina and her financial struggles.
While the plotline and synopsis of the drama is captivating, the slow-pace makes your attention waiver. It is not gripping enough as yet but considering only five episodes have aired so far, we’re willing to let this go for now. The dialogues are also powerful.
Both Hamza and Sajal have put up remarkable performances. Sajal as the struggling Momina is great – her expressions and the way she portrays the depth of her character is superb. Sadaf as Hamza’s love interest is also charming. We haven’t seen much of Kubra Khan but she does fit into the character of Husn-e-Jahan smoothly. The supporting cast is also commendable.
Alif has been penned by Umera Ahmed and directed by Haseeb Hassan of Parwaaz Hai Junoon fame.
The drama does appear to be promising watch given the teasers and cast but I do hope the pace doesn’t make it mundane and tiresome to watch.
Saying that a meeting did take place between Chief of Army Staff (COAS) Gen Qamar Javed Bajwa and Jamiat Ulema-e-Islam-Fazl (JUI-F) chief Maulana Fazlur Rehman, senior journalist and analyst Rauf Klasra has revealed further details of the encounter that some say “never took place”.
A journalist affiliated with a private media outlet had last month quoted the army chief as telling Fazl that “there was no possibility of a minus-Imran Khan concept”.
In the “important” meeting held ahead of JUI-F’s Azadi March, the journalist had claimed that Gen Bajwa “made it clear to Fazl that they wouldn’t permit destabilisation at a time when the regional situation was critical”.
While some, including an ex-army official, had denied the claims regarding any meeting between the two, no official statements were made as the journalist claimed it was “common knowledge”.
With Fazl going ahead with his anti-government protest, staging a sit-in in the federal capital and demanding Prime Minister (PM) Imran Khan’s resignation, Rauf Klasra has two weeks later claimed that not only did the meeting take place, but it also saw a “heated exchange of words” between the COAS and the religio-political party chief.
“Even though both sides state otherwise, it has been confirmed that the meeting did take place. Not only did it occur, but it was also marred by a heated argument as Maulana Sahib defied the army chief,” Klasra said in a video doing rounds over the internet.
He claimed that Fazl refused to budge on his plans and the situation got tense enough for the army chief to gift him a perfume on his way out. “My sources say that Maulana was gifted a bottle of perfume to calm him down.”
WATCH VIDEO:
According to earlier claims, Gen Bajwa had reminded Fazl that he was a responsible political leader and must be aware that the regional situation was critical. “The situation on the border with India is volatile due to the Kashmir crisis and Afghanistan’s situation is also a source of trouble.”
The army chief had reportedly also referred to Iran-Saudi Arabia affairs and told the JUI-F chief that it was not an appropriate time for staging the protest since the economy had been brought on the right track after herculean efforts within the country and abroad.
“Do take ki aurat,” has taken over social media and the Pakistani meme world. The episode was one of the biggest searches on Google yesterday, with people asking what will happen next.
Meme doing the rounds
ARY uploaded a ‘coming up next’ for episode 13 but it doesn’t say much….at all. The teaser shows Danish (Humayun Saeed) remembering Mehwish (Ayeza Khan) and her walking with Shehwar (Adnan Siddiqui).
A lot of the shots look as if we have seen them in previous episodes, so here’s to hoping its not one of those ‘remembering’ episodes where Danish and Mehwish are sitting, reminiscing about the past. Boring. Especially after such a big high in episode 12.
A district Hospital in Chishtian, which is a city in Bhawalnagar district in Punjab, became a wedding hall when the lab-in-charge of the facility arranged the wedding reception of his son at the hospital, ARY News reported on Sunday.
There were dhol walas present at the wedding
There were firecrackers and celebrations which continued until the morning, which made life difficult for many patients.
Dancing outside the hospital
The ceremony was illegally arranged and the government hospital has yet to take action against the person responsible. The Chief Minister of Punjab has taken notice of the event.
CM Punjab has taken notice of the event
The incident is not new to our region. Two years ago a couple got married in UP India, creating the same chaos it did here.
High on the success of his film Parey Hut Love, it appears that Sheheyar Munawar has shot yet another ‘exciting project’ with creative genius Asim Raza in Turkey.
Pictures of the actor, director and their team at beautiful locales across the country have been silently making their way to social media over the past week.
Sheheryar later also posted a picture of himself with Asim on Instagram with the caption, “Had the opportunity of working with this genius again, on a very exciting and ambitious (to say the least) project.”
We’re pretty curious to know what the duo is up to. Have they started shooting their next film or is it just an advertisement? Guess we’ll have to wait and watch.
Meanwhile, in an exclusive interview with The Current, Sheheryar had said that we will be seeing him next on the big screen “very soon” and it appears that it will be sooner than we expected.
The Testaments by Margaret Atwood is the much-awaited sequel to The Handmaid’s Tale which has almost a cult following around the world. The book was released with much fanfare and publicity and recently also won the Booker Prize along with Girl, Woman, Other. The reactions to the book, however, have been divisive.
The Testaments picks up fifteen years after the previous book. Gilead is still the same; if anything else the fundamentalism and extremism has gotten worse. For some reason, all of the stringent laws mostly apply to women in an attempt to suppress them further. Which is probably why this aspect resonated with me as currently many cultures are receding into their traditional roots.
Women in this military-controlled zone are merely instruments for childbearing as in this dystopian future, humanity has self-destructed to the point of rampant infertility. Girls in schools, even the elite are not allowed to learn how to read and write in the fear that they may develop independent thought. The male commanders rule all and they use older women called ‘Aunts’ to control the younger members. The atmosphere of suffocation and fear that Atwood has created is almost palpable.
Without giving away spoilers, the storyline revolves around Aunt Lydia, an influential all-powerful force to be reckoned with; Agnes, a young girl in Gilead who doesn’t quite belong; and Daisy a young girl living in the free world whose story has some surprising twists and turns. Each of these women are struggling with their own troubles and adversities in an atmosphere of extreme mystery and secrecy which adds to their fear and tribulations.
Margaret Atwood
Is this book as powerful as The Handmaid’s Tale? Perhaps not. I reckon Atwood wrote this more for the large television viewership that the series enjoys. I found it an easier read than the prequel but perhaps less profound. However, this is not to say that it is not a good book – it brings the story to a satisfying conclusion and keeps the reader engrossed until the end.
The mystery surrounding Humaima Malick’s relationship status has been intriguing fans for a while now. The actor has been spotted with a mystery man, Akbar Dedhai, on more than one occasion making fans wonder what the deal is.
In a recent Instagram post, Humaima posted a picture of herself with Akbar and captioned it, “Purest one.”
https://www.instagram.com/p/B4U-I5qA93K/
Under another picture, which also had producer Ammara Hikmat in the frame, Humaima wrote, “With people who matter the most. “La Familia.”
https://www.instagram.com/p/B4JynpsA40b/
Does that mean Humaima has finally revealed that she is a relationship with Akbar?
We can’t be too sure because Humaima has previously also shared pictures with her alleged beau. However, they were later deleted.
Meanwhile, back in Ramazan, Humaima also performed Umrah with Akbar and shared a selfie of the two in Makkah. This led fans to speculate that the two are married because Umrah cannot be performed without a mehram.
While it does seem that Humaima and Akbar are a couple we can only be sure when the actor makes an official comment on the matter. Till then we’ll have to wait patiently and keep our ‘inner aunty’ in check.
Humaima was previously married to actor-director Shamoon Abbasi. The two separated after a brief marriage and maintain that they are still friends.
On the work front, Humaima will be seen next in the much-anticipated The Legend of Maula Jutt.
Narcissistic personality traits — such as superiority and entitlement — have been on the rise in recent years but it appears that it might not be a bad thing after all.
Many people find narcissists to be challenging to work with but as per this new study, they can easily attract a following of people, are more likely to receive promotions and often get paid more.
For a study by Queen’s University Belfast, researchers surveyed more than 700 adults who exhibited clinical or “normal” levels of narcissism (which is different from having a narcissistic personality disorder) and asked them about narcissism and mental toughness.
One of the key findings of the research was that grandiose narcissism can increase mental toughness and this can help to offset symptoms of depression.
It also found that people who score high on grandiose narcissism have lower levels of perceived stress and are therefore less likely to view their life as stressful.
The evidence showed that grandiose narcissism tended to be correlated with traits that help you succeed, such as mental toughness, confidence and goal-orientation. And the confidence and sense of accomplishment that people exhibiting grandiose narcissism gained seemed to offset any negative feelings of stress and depression than those traits might otherwise cause.
Grandiose narcissism appears to correlate positively with healthy self-esteem and extroversion.
You won’t be able to tell that 40 minutes went by in one of the fastest episodes of Meray Pass Tum Ho. Just 12 episodes in, the show is bound to be one of the biggest blockbusters in Pakistani drama history.
Mehwish (Ayeza Khan) has decided to leave her son and husband for loaded Shehwar (Adnan Siddiqui). Husband Danish (Humayun Saeed) relents and tells her that she can go and as predicted serves her with divorce papers in this episode.
She doesn’t flinch when he gives them to her but there is a flicker – of shock or happiness, one can’t be certain – but she is definitely taken by surprise when he hands them to her.
One can’t be sure in the beginning of the episode of Danish’s motives. He brings a cake to celebrate his wedding anniversary with Mehwish, which seems like a really weird and creepy thing to do since she’s leaving him for another man.
Making Mehwish cut a wedding anniversary cake with him
The weirdness of it freaks Mehwish out too and she tell Shehwar to come over and get her – eight hours before she actually has to leave. We start to see cracks in Danish’s cool demeanour as he starts passing comments on his marriage with Mehwish – and we finally see that he really is incredibly angry and just very good at hiding it.
Mehwish on the other hand, couldn’t care less and one loses a little respect for her in this episode. When Danish hands her her phone, she finds that the phone is covered in Danish’s blood – blood from an accident he had had the same night. She ignores it – and checks for Shehwar’s message. Ouch.
Mehwish realizing Danish’s blood is on her hands
Her soon-to-be ex-husband and father of your child is bleeding and she couldn’t care less. Seems like a whole new Mehwish. Ayeza Khan had warned her fans not to watch this episode since they would hate her at the end of it. Don’t hate her but definitely don’t like her anymore.
Danish’s biting responses and out of the blue reactions make this episode a truly riveting watch. Humayun Saeed has done it again, proving he is the best actor in the industry. He succeeds in making everyone watching feel for him and also feel incredibly uncomfortable watching him behave and react so strangely. He offers his cheating wife and her lover tea and asks them to sit in his house- until he tells Mehwish to leave with Shehwar.
Danish made Shehwar and Mehwish chai after he gave Mehwish permission to call Shehwar over to take her
When walking them to the door, he says to Shehwar that, “waisey tou bohat intelligent businessman lagte hain aap, lekin yahan bhao karte huye hairaan kardia aapne mujhe. Is do takay ki larki kay liye aap mujhe 50 million dey rahe thay…“ and that’s it.
Danish telling Shehwar that Mehwish is a do take ki aurat
Mehwish hears it and realizes that that’s the moment she truly lost her husband – not when she told him she wanted to leave, not when he found out that she had an affair, not when he gave her divorce papers.
Mehwish realizes she’s lost her husband forever
She realizes that she’s lost the man who truly loved her when she’s walking out of her house and he reveals how he truly feels, you can tell – she has a flicker of admiration and fear for him. Admiration that he finally, finally stood up for himself and fear because now she knows that she can never come back.
