Tag: topnews

  • 1992 and 2019? It’s not just Pakistan’s performance that’s similar…

    1992 and 2019? It’s not just Pakistan’s performance that’s similar…

    The world is coming down, the flags are up and the
    similarities between the 1992 and 2019 cricket world cups are uncanny.

    Back in the 1992 edition, Pakistan were hanging loosely off
    the edge, having their World Cup journey on the verge of conclusion before
    striking back; which is something that can be witnessed in 2019 as well.

    Good thing for Pakistan? The Imran Khan-led 1992 squad
    lifted the coveted trophy 27 years ago.

    While not just fans and critics, but even the International
    Cricket Council (ICC), observe the eerie similarities between the two
    tournaments, here’s a list of players from our current squad and their counterparts
    from the ’92 cup.

    Mohammad Amir and Wasim Akram

    Like Akram in 1992, Amir is carrying Pakistan’s bowling
    attack forward in 2019.

    Babar Azam and Javed Miandad

    Like Miandad, Babar has stepped up to perform brilliantly and
    rack up runs for his side.

    Shaheen Afridi and Aaqib Javed

    Like Aaqib was a second fiddle to Wasim, Shaheen is undoubtedly
    that to Mohammad Amir.

    Haris Sohail and Inzamamul Haq

    Inzamam played some brilliant innings in ’92; quite similar
    to Haris’s against South Africa and New Zealand.

    Shadab Khan and Mushtaq Ahmed

    Mushtaq had a huge impact 27 years ago, while Shadab has one
    for Pakistan in 2019.

    Hassan Ali and Iqbal Sikandar

    Hassan is rather non-existent in the World Cup so far; and just
    like Sikandar, not many people might even remember if he even played or not.

    Shoaib Malik and Saleem Malik

    Saleem was horribly out of form in 1992 and did nothing for
    his side; Shoaib hasn’t done anything so far either.

    Imad Wasim and Ijaz Ahmed

    Just like Ijaz, Imad is an “all-rounder” who is playing in the team for the sake of his label. Does knowing a little bit about both batting and bowling really make you an all-rounder? (Ijaz quit bowling in the later days of his career)

    Imamul Haq and Ramiz Raja

    The thing both Imam and Ramiz have in common is the strike
    rate. Imam in 2019 bats at the same strike rate as Ramiz did in 1992.

    Sarfaraz Ahmed and Moin Khan

    Both Sarfaraz and Moin, other than being wicketkeeper-batsmen, have a role crucial for the entire team. In Shoaib Akhtar’s words, “Moin didn’t, while Sarfaraz doesn’t perform up to the mark”.

    Imran Khan

    Last, but undoubtedly not the least is Imran Khan – the dashing skipper who steered his ‘Cornered Tigers’ to victory in the 1992 World Cup. In all honesty, Khan has no match on the cricket field; however, he still is the captain.

  • Army removes ‘Christians-only’ condition for sanitary workers

    Army removes ‘Christians-only’ condition for sanitary workers

    After being criticised for discrimination towards Christians, Pakistan Army has removed the “Christian-only” clause in its call for applications for sanitary workers.

    The move was pointed out by activist and former Punjab Chief Minister’s Strategic Reforms Unit director general (DG) Salman Sufi. Taking to Twitter, he thanked Inter-Services Public Relations (ISPR) DG Major General Asif Ghafoor.

    “Great news. Thanks to @OfficialDGISPR [Maj Gen Asif Ghafoor] for removing the ‘Christian-only clause in the call for application for sanitary workers, paving the way to ensure Pakistani Christians aren’t labeled as just for sanitary jobs,” he wrote.

    “We are grateful that this clerical error was addressed as usually Christians are [stereotyped] as sanitary workers so it is considered a norm and we wanted that changed,” Sufi told a private media outlet.

    Earlier, activists had taken to social media to urge the ISPR chief that the discriminatory clause is removed from the call. It specified that only Christians could apply for the posts of sanitation workers in the army’s Mujahid Force.

    Vacancies for the posts of drivers, sepoys and tradesmen were also mentioned, but had no such religious criteria.

    According to SAMAA, a report by the World Watch Monitor says that minority representation in sanitation work in Pakistan is above 80%. According to the report, 824 of 935 sanitation workers in the Peshawar Municipal Corporation (PMC) are Christian.

    About 6,000 out of 7,894 sanitation workers in the Lahore Waste Management Company (LWMC) are Christians and so are 768 of 978 workers in the Quetta Municipal Corporation (QMC).

  • ‘PTI govt repays record $9.5 billion foreign loans’

    ‘PTI govt repays record $9.5 billion foreign loans’

    The Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) government has retired record foreign loans worth $9.5 billion during the current fiscal year, which according to Minister of State for Revenue Hammad Azhar, had never been done by any government in a single year.

    On point of personal explanation in the National Assembly, Azhar said that during the first year of PTI government, external debts increased by $2.7 billion whereas, in the last year of the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) government, foreign loans surged by over $7 billion.

    WATCH VIDEO:

    Responding to the opposition’s claim of obtaining domestic loans worth Rs7,000 billion or Rs 10,000 billion during PTI’s first year in power, he further said the figures were highly exaggerated.

    The minister added that previous governments were responsible for the current economic situation of the country, while the Prime Minister (PM) Imran Khan-led government was taking the economy towards stability.

  • Abdul Razzaq offers to make ‘faulty Hardik Pandya world’s best all-rounder in two weeks’

    Abdul Razzaq offers to make ‘faulty Hardik Pandya world’s best all-rounder in two weeks’

    Former Pakistan cricketer Abdul Razzaq has offered to coach Indian all-rounder Hardik Pandya to “improve his faulty techniques”.

    “Today I saw Pandya batting against West Indies and found a few issues in his foot movement, bat swing and body balance while hitting,” the former all-rounder said in a video on his official YouTube channel.

    WATCH VIDEO:

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9IXIaYFasBE

    On Thursday, Pandya scored a brisk 46 and shared a crucial 70-run partnership with MS Dhoni to help India post a competitive total of 268/7 against West Indies in their ICC World Cup 2019 game at the Old Trafford.

    Pandya chipped in with the ball and also took the wicket of opener Sunil Ambris. In fact, his send-off to the Windies opener became one of the talking points of the game.

    However, Razzaq, who scored 5,080 runs in ODI, said Pandya’s game had weaknesses, which needed to be worked upon.

    “If Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) gives me just two weeks to coach Pandya, he can become world’s no 1 hitter and all-rounder,” he added.

  • Bankruptcy? ‘Ishaq Dar’s son shuts down school in Dubai over financial issues’

    Bankruptcy? ‘Ishaq Dar’s son shuts down school in Dubai over financial issues’

    Days after it was reported that the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) government is tightening the noose around former finance minister Ishaq Dar, reports claiming his family is going through a financial crunch, have surfaced.

    According to reports, the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) leader’s son, Hasnain Dar, has decided to shut down his Ontario International Canadian School (OICS) in Dubai citing “financial issues” as the family “starts to wind up their ventures abroad”.

    Mirdiff based OICS was opened in 2014 and follows the Canadian curriculum for kindergarten to grade 10, with fees ranging from Dh28,000-56,000 a year.

    Last week, the school administration issued to parents a circular signed by Dar, which has reportedly left over 200 parents in an awkward position while around 50 teaching and non-teaching staffers will also be affected.

    “I have continuously been engaged in discussions with KHDA regarding the future of OICS. However, it is only fair for me to share with you that —the school does not have the financial support to continue beyond June 30, 2019,” the circular read.

    “I understand that this is an incredibly difficult time for families and we at OICS are committed to ensuring a smooth transition of your children to other schools. As a part of our effort for this smooth transition, we have asked Kings’ Education to honour the OICS fee structure for the next two academic years for any students who wish to transfer to Kings’ Schools,” it said further.

  • FREAKONOMICS!

    FREAKONOMICS!

    We are all freaked out!

    No one knows what is happening… no one
    knows what will happen… but we are all freaked out!

    Dollar floats and soars as freely as Imran
    Khan’s sky-high claims of rectifying the economy in the past, buying gold is
    the gossip of old times, stock market plunges are a routine matter. Basic
    necessities are now luxuries, taxes are piling up these days more quickly than
    the fats on one’s bones, education was never free, but wasn’t even as expensive
    as of today.

    Jobs are scant. Health facilities are
    sparse. Incomes and earnings getting more and more exiguous. The economy is
    shrinking, debt is accumulating, investors are wary, traders are worried, farmers
    are distraught, businessmen depressed and youth distressed.

    Everyone is caught up in a whirlpool of
    stress and strain, yet the Khan government assures us on a daily basis: “All is
    well… all will be well”.

    Either it’s the innocence, ignorance or
    some blind inference that we still sustain some hope in the current regime.
    Probably, we are left with no other option. Probably we still want to test
    Khan’s delivery.

    Either it’s the incompetence of the
    government or it’s the incompetence of the collective social judgement. We are
    in a state of love and hate relationship with Khan — exactly like our cricket
    team. On a rare, unexpected occasion; it delivers something and we are all
    cheering up.

    Most of the times we are let down,
    crestfallen; yet we have no other option. Do we?

    Opposition, on the other hand, the prime
    task of which is to safeguard the public interests and to keep an eye on
    government functioning, is failing to perform too. Though we see a lot of brouhaha
    and hubbub by the opposition parties in the National Assembly these days as the
    budget session goes on, it fails to substantially affect the smooth passage and
    approval of the finance bill.

    Reason: united we stand, divided we “sit”.

    This division was quite obvious at the
    opposition’s All Parties Conference (APC) convened two days back in Islamabad
    when the joint communiqué lacked any solid and affirmative strategy.

    The ostensible joint opposition had a clear
    difference of opinion and strategy between Pakistan People’s Party (PPP) and
    Maulana’s Jamiat Ulemae Islam-Fazl (JUI-F); between within Pakistan Muslim
    League-Nawaz (PML-N) of Shehbaz Sharif versus Maryam Nawaz; between smaller
    parties and PPP plus PML-N.

    So far the synthetic joint opposition is
    granting more benefit than inflicting any harm upon Khan’s government. Under
    the cloud of thunderous claims by the opposition, it all seems to rain down
    well upon the government.

    Khan smartly managed to politically
    “epoxy-fy” disgruntled Muttahida Qaumi Movement-Pakistan (MQM-P) and
    Balochistan National Party-Mengal (BNP-M), hence securing not just the sanction
    of Budget 2019-20, but acquiring a few months’ more time to stabilise his
    administration.

    Opposition can rely upon mere verbosity via
    pressers, media talks, statements and tweets till then. And we are all left at
    the mercy of tight economic clenching till then.

    October is the new November, they say.

    No one knows what is happening… no one knows
    what will happen… but we are all freaked out!

  • UK events featuring Saqib Nisar, Faisal Vawda cancelled due to ‘lack of public interest’

    UK events featuring Saqib Nisar, Faisal Vawda cancelled due to ‘lack of public interest’

    At least three fundraisers in the United Kingdom (UK), planned with former chief justice of Pakistan (CJP) Saqib Nisar and Federal Minister for Water Resources Faisal Vawda, have been cancelled owing to “lack of public interest”.

    According to The News, I am Pakistan Worldwide Movement (IAPWM) had announced the “awareness dinner galas” in Birmingham, London and Manchester to raise funds for Diamer-Bhasha and Mohmand dams with Nisar and Vawda.

    However, the three events to be held on June 24 at Piccadilly Banquetting Suite, Birmingham; June 21 at Royal Nawab Restaurant, London; and Royal Nawab in Manchester on June 23 were cancelled due to “lack of public interest”.

    Nisar has been in London for over two weeks now and dates of the events were announced in consultations with him as well as Vawda, however, the response from the local chapter as well as the community groups led to the events being cancelled, the report said.

    “Ex-CJP Saqib Nisar made London travel plans with his family to attend the fundraising events and to watch the ICC World Cup, but upon arrival, the organisers told him that the events had been cancelled due to lack of interest from the members of the public,” The News quoted sources as saying.

    The report further said that Prime Minister (PM) Imran Khan’s close aide Aneel Musarrat “didn’t show any interest in the event unlike previously when he took lead in arranging a fundraiser when Saqib Nisar was the chief justice”.

    Vawda, on the other hand, said he failed to attend the events because “he was busy with the budget session and other commitments”.

  • Making us proud: Meet Major Fozia Parveen, serving UN Peacekeeping Force

    Making us proud: Meet Major Fozia Parveen, serving UN Peacekeeping Force

    Among many other Pakistani female military and staff officers is Major Fozia Parveen, who is making the country proud by serving the United Nations’ (UN) Peacekeeping Force.

    Taking to social media, Pakistan’s Representative to the UN, Maleeha Lodhi, lauded Major Fozia’s services as a UN peacekeeper in Cyprus.

    “We are proud of our female (and male) peacekeepers who serve in UN missions. Major Fozia Perveen is serving in the UN Mission in Cyprus (UNFICYP), seen here on a patrol in the Buffer Zone. Picture thanks to the UN, [sic]” she said in an Instagram post.

    https://www.instagram.com/p/BzMeC8_h_mI/?utm_source=ig_web_copy_link

    Pakistan earlier crossed the target set by the UN from zero to 15 per cent deployment of female military and staff officers in the peacekeeping mission within just 18 months.

    “We believe, increased participation of female peacekeepers, and encouraging more women to take up mediation roles helps in the stabilisation and reconstruction phases of conflicts,” Lodhi had said earlier in April while participating in a debate on ‘Women in Peacekeeping.’

    Maleeh Lodhi herself is the first woman to hold the position of Pakistan’s representative to the UN. Previously, she has served as the country’s envoy to the Court of St James and twice as its ambassador to the United States (US).

  • VIDEO: Sikh fan cheering for Pakistan cricket team breaks the internet

    VIDEO: Sikh fan cheering for Pakistan cricket team breaks the internet

    The video of a Sikh fan cheering for the Pakistan cricket team at Edgbaston on Wednesday, has gone viral over the internet.

    The unnamed fan has won hearts of Pakistani supporters all across the globe with his gesture during the must-win match against New Zealand at the packed cricket stadium.

    WATCH VIDEO:

    In the video, he can be heard raising the slogan “Pakistan Zindabad” while thousands of other Pakistan team supporters join him.

    Green Shirts defeated New Zealand by six wickets to stay in the hunt for a place in the World Cup Wednesday. They next face Afghanistan and Bangladesh on June 29 and July 5, respectively.

  • Army builds girls’ school in place of TTP militant Hakimullah Mehsud’s headquarters

    Army builds girls’ school in place of TTP militant Hakimullah Mehsud’s headquarters

    Pakistan Army has rebuilt a girls school for higher secondary education where once existed the headquarters of Tehrik-i-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) militant Hakimullah Mehsud, a private media outlet reported.

    The school, located in the Orakzai Agency of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa’s (KP) Kohat division, was completely destroyed during the war on terror and later converted into the headquarters of Mehsud, who was the deputy to TTP commander Baitullah Mehsud.

    With the war abated after years of unrest, Pakistan Army has rebuilt the school at the same spot.

    The TTP has been a strong adversary of the idea of sending girls to schools. The militant group claims “educating women goes against Islam”.

    In 2012, Nobel Peace Prize winner and activist Malala Yousafzai was also shot by the Taliban after advocating for girls’ education using a pen name, bringing global attention to the group’s violent threat on the nation’s young women.