The federal government is currently considering salary increases for government employees in the range of 10 percent to 15 percent in the upcoming budget for 2024-2025, Geo News reported.
The government intends to increase revenue generation to strike a successful deal with the International Monetary Fund (IMF) under Extended Fund Facility (EFF) at a range of $6 billion.
The Ministry of Finance wants to raise the salary by just 10 percent and there is another consideration to increase the monetization of cars by 20 percent to 25 percent for higher grade officers like grades 20, 21, and 22.
The monetary policy was introduced in 2012 for the basic purpose of reducing the burden on government expenditure, which was “in line with the observance of austerity measures and to eliminate misuse of official vehicles.”
The government is also considering pension reforms in the next budget including putting tax on pensioners who withdraw over Rs 100,000 per month.
Israel’s bombing of refugee tents in Rafah on Sunday night left the world horrified. As videos and images of decapitated children, Palestinians burning alive and bodies reduced to char appeared on social media, a wave of outrage spread across the globe.
Among those who publicly spoke up were many supporters of Israel’s genocide in Gaza, including British television presenter Piers Morgan, who became a caricature of himself by continuously asking his pro- Palestinian panelists to “condemn Hamas”.
On Sunday night, he tweeted, “The scenes from Rafah overnight are horrific. I’ve defended Israel’s right to defend itself after Oct7, but slaughtering so many innocent people as they cower in a refugee camp is indefensible. Stop this now @netanyahu”.
Over in America, ‘free-speech activist’ Brianna Wu stopped her non-stop support of Israel to quote tweet Morgan’s tweet: “I agree with this.
I said at the beginning that invading Rafah would be a mistake of historic proportions and would make it difficult for people to stand with Israel.
None of this is going to make anyone safer.”
As other Israel supporters scrambled to condemn the incident in Rafah, the internet was having none of it. Many reminded Piers of his complicity in the genocide.
This is all happening because you pushed atrocity propaganda and said Israel has a right to defend itself when interactional law says that it does not !
A woman from Sambariyal in Sialkot district allegedly left her four children in the Greater Iqbal Park in Lahore after becoming fed up with the domestic abuse carried out by husband.
The children were taken into protective custody by the Child Protection Bureau.
The mother left her four young children homeless in Greater Iqbal Park, reports Geo News.
One of the children, seven-year-old child Zain, told the police that he was a resident of Sambaryal and his father used to beat his mother daily. Police started the search for his parents on Zain’s information and handed over the children to the Child Protection Bureau team.
Zain informed the police that their mother and father’s names are Urooj and Bilal respectively.
Among the children found in Greater Iqbal Park, three girls and one boy are aged between 8 months and 7 years, as per the Child Protection Bureau.
Chairperson Child Protection Bureau Sarah Ahmed informed Geo News that the children will be well taken care of in the Child Protection Bureau.
Get the scoop on Fawad Khan’s upcoming Indian series as journalist Amna Isani shared exclusive details about the actor’s new venture on her show ‘Haute Review’ hosted by Hassan Choudhry and herself.
“Fawad Khan is doing a big-budget series where he plays a polo players’ trainer. The series is written by Umera Ahmed and directed by Asim Raza. The production is led by Misbah Shafique, who has worked with Zee 5. It will be released on Sony Life. The cast includes Sanam Saeed, Mikaal Zulfiqar, and Hira Khan. The series was shot in London, Islamabad, and Chitral. Fawad Khan plays a Chitrali Nawab who trains polo players, and Sanam Saeed probably plays a British girl.”
Earlier in the week, a Christian man was injured in Sargodha by a violent mob, while his house and factory were set on fire on allegations of blasphemy. While police were able to control the situation before it spiralled out of control, the situation was reminiscent of Jaranwala riots for many people.
Miss Universe Pakistan 2023 Erica Robin and Pakistani actor Mashal Khan have talked about the attempted lynching, asking authorities to protect minority rights.
Robin posted a powerful message on her Instagram about how minorities in Pakistan face difficulties and why things must change. She said, “It’s sad that minorities in Pakistan aren’t treated the same as the majority. If it wasn’t for the votes of minorities in 1947, Pakistan wouldn’t be here today.
Even Quaid-e-Azam recognized that minorities played a big part in making Pakistan. But what’s happening in Pakistan now is terrible and has been happening for a long time.”
Robin spoke up after the terrible attack in Sargodha, saying that this isn’t just one incident. She said, “The recent sad event in Sargodha, where an innocent person was killed, shows how minorities are treated badly. This isn’t the only time it’s happened; there have been other incidents like the Gojra riots, where Ahmadis were targeted, and attacks on Hindu and Christian communities for many years.”
She also talked about how Pakistan’s blasphemy laws are sometimes used unfairly against minorities. She said, “The blasphemy law in Pakistan has been used unfairly against minorities many times. Most Pakistanis need to speak up and say we should get rid of this law. Minorities are a big part of our country and deserve to be treated fairly and protected.” Robin also shared her love for Pakistan and her hope for things to get better. “We care about our country and are an important part of it. It’s time for things to change.”
Mashal also used Instagram to speak out against the attacks and highlight the important role minorities played in Pakistan’s history. “I keep having to say the same thing over and over. Minorities helped build Pakistan, and it was meant to protect them too. Muslims were a minority before Pakistan was made and faced hate because of their religion. We can’t let this keep happening in our own country,” Mashal said. The Suno Chanda actor added, “If we let these terrible people get away with this, they’ll feel more powerful. We need to stand up for minorities.”
The victim, Nazir Gill, was critically injured despite police saving his life. He’s being treated at a hospital. When the angry mob attacked, they wrecked Nazir Gill’s house and factory. Scared, many Christian people ran away from their homes, some taking shelter in churches nearby.
Former Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif is set to take the reins of the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) today once again after more than six years.
Nawaz Sharif will be elected the president of the party through intra-party polls rescheduled from the second week of May to May 28 aka Youm-e-Takbir.
In 2017, Nawaz lost both the prime minister’s office and the presidency of PML-N after the ruling of the Panama Papers case. Hence, the catchphrase “Mujhy Kyun Nikala” (Why was I removed?) used by the party at that time.
Rana Sanaullah previously stated that party leaders had a complete consensus on Nawaz being the leader of the party.
The provincial government of Khyeber Pakhtunkhwa (KP) and the federal government have finally agreed to work together after months of heated arguments over arrears, deciding to put differences aside for the betterment of the people of Pakistan, Geo reported on Monday.
The development came during a meeting in Islamabad between the chief minister of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP), Ali Amin Gandapur and Interior Minister Mohsin Naqvi. The Federal Minister for Energy, Awais Ahmad Khan Leghari, also attended the meeting.
After that, they also held joint press conferences.
Addressing a joint presser, following a “meaningful” dialogue, CM Gandapur said: “The federal and provincial institutions will work together. [We] will work together to remove the causes of line losses.”
The federal government and the KP government are clashing and disagreeing over multiple issues. Power cuts in KP are one of the major reasons for the spats between the Centre and KP, with Gandapur even threatening to take control of the Peshawar Electric Supply Company (PESCO) due to excessive power outages in the province.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said on Monday that a deadly strike that hit a displacement camp in Gaza’s Rafah was a “tragic accident” that his government was investigating.
“In Rafah, we evacuated a million uninvolved residents and, despite our best efforts, a tragic accident happened yesterday,” Netanyahu told parliament.
He added that “we are investigating the case and will draw the conclusions” after Gaza’s health ministry reported 45 dead as the strike late Sunday sparked a fire that tore through a tent city for displaced Gazans.
The ministry in the Gaza Strip also said that 249 people were wounded.
Israel faced a wave of international condemnation on Monday over the Rafah strike, including from across the region as well from the European Union, France, and the United Nations.
The Israeli military said it had launched a probe into the strike which it said was carried out based on “precise intelligence information” about two Hamas militants who it said were killed.
It also said “the strike did not occur in the humanitarian area in Al-Mawasi, to which the IDF (army) has encouraged civilians to evacuate” since the ground operation began in Rafah.
Netanyahu struck a defiant tone in his Knesset address while being heckled by relatives of hostages held in Gaza, and vowed to keep up the battle to destroy Hamas.
“There is no substitute for absolute victory” in Gaza, he told the chamber.
Netanyahu denounced pressure, both internal and external, that he said his government has faced since the war in Gaza began.
“They pressured us then,” said Netanyahu, before listing calls to refrain from military operations which Israel carried out anyway.
“Don’t enter Gaza. We entered! Do not enter Shifa! We entered! Do not enter Khan Yunis! We entered! Do not enter Rafah! We entered!” he said.
“I don’t give up and I won’t give up! I stand up to pressures from home and abroad.”
Israel’s genocide in Gaza has caused the death of 36,050 Palestinians.
Gaza’s civil defence agency said Monday that many bodies were “charred” after the strikes triggered a fire that ripped through a displacement camp in northwest Rafah.
“The massacre committed by the Israeli occupation army in the refugee tents northwest of Rafah city in the southern Gaza Strip has left 40 martyrs and 65 wounded,” said agency official Mohammad al-Mughayyir.
“We saw charred bodies and dismembered limbs … We also saw cases of amputations, wounded children, women and the elderly.”
Footage released by the Palestinian Red Crescent Society showed chaotic night-time scenes of paramedics in ambulances racing to the fiery attack site and evacuating the wounded, including children.
“We had just done with the evening prayers,” recalled one survivor, a Palestinian woman who declined to be named.
“Our children were asleep … suddenly we heard a loud sound and there was fire all around us. The children were screaming … the sound was terrifying.”
Mughayyir said the rescue efforts were hampered by war damage and the impacts of Israel’s siege on the territory amid the over seven-month-old conflict.
“There is a fuel shortage … there are roads that have been destroyed, which hinders the movement of civil defence vehicles in these targeted areas,” he said. “There is also a shortage of water to extinguish fires.”
The ICRC said that one of its field hospitals was receiving an “influx of casualties seeking care for injuries and burns” and that “our teams are doing their best to save lives”.
Israeli occupation forces on the other hand said the air strikes late Sunday, hours after a rocket attack had targeted Tel Aviv, had killed two senior Hamas operatives. However, it will investigate the reports of civilians killed in a fire..
It added that it was “aware of reports indicating that as a result of the strike and fire that was ignited, several civilians in the area were harmed. The incident is under review.”
The Israeli attack sparked strong protests from Egypt, Jordan, Kuwait, and from Qatar which warned it could “hinder” budding steps to revive stalled truce and hostage release talks in the Israel-Hamas war raging since October 7.
Egypt
Egypt deplored the “targeting of defenceless civilians” and labelled it part of “a systematic policy aimed at widening the scope of death and destruction in the Gaza Strip to make it uninhabitable”.
Jordan
Jordan also expressed its condemnation, accusing Israel of committing “ongoing war crimes”.
Kuwait
Kuwait charged the attack exposed Israel’s “blatant war crimes and unprecedented genocide to the whole world”.
Qatar
And Qatar condemned the Israeli bombing as a “dangerous violation of international law”.
Israel’s top ally the United States has strongly urged all sides to resume truce talks, with efforts underway in recent days toward new talks with US, Egyptian and Qatari mediators.
After the latest violence, Qatar’s foreign ministry voiced “concern that the bombing will complicate ongoing mediation efforts and hinder reaching an agreement for an immediate and permanent ceasefire”.
Hamas attack on Tel Aviv
The strike came hours after Hamas had on Sunday, for the first time in months, launched a barrage of rockets at Tel Aviv and other areas of central Israel, sending people running into bomb shelters.
Although Israeli air defences took out most of the rockets and no casualties were reported, the attack was seen as an effort by Hamas to signal that it remains undefeated.
Hamas’s armed wing said it had targeted Tel Aviv “with a large rocket barrage in response to the Zionist massacres against civilians”.
Israel invaded Gaza in late October, but its ground forces are still battling Hamas in northern and central areas where Hamas has regrouped, as well as around Rafah.
Hamas said, after the overnight strikes, that Palestinians must “rise up and march”.
The delightful Naimal Khawar Khan has been cherishing moments with her husband, superstar Hamza Ali Abbasi. She recently treated her followers to adorable snapshots and a vlog capturing their latest lunch date. They ventured out to explore a new coffee shop in Islamabad’s picturesque rainy weather. Naimal generously shared the vlog on her YouTube channel, and now we’ve gathered some delightful pictures for you to enjoy.
