Kashif Abbasi, a prominent journalist at ARY News, was conducting his political talk show, which airs from 8 PM – 9 PM, when it was allegedly taken off air mid-transmission around 8:42 PM on May 7.
The guests in the program were Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz’s (PML-N) senior leader Mian Javed Latif and Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf’s (PTI) Salman Akram Raja.
When the show was taken off air, Raja and the journalist were discussing the recent press briefing by DG ISPR and the events of May 9.
Kashif Abbasi emphasised that the press briefing had made it clear that the ‘military was not ready for any talks with PTI’ and remarked “PTI needs to decide whether they want to hold dialogue with political parties or not.”
After this, the show was taken off air. The part that did air is available on YouTube.
Social media reactions were mostly critical of the show being taken off the air.
The police clashed with lawyers on Wednesday at Lahore’s GPO Chowk, as the black coats organised a protest rally and tried to enter the Lahore High Court (LHC).
The lawyers are protesting against the division of civil courts and terrorism cases against their colleagues.
Chief Minister of Punjab Maryam Nawaz said that she directed Inspector General (IG) Dr Usman to avoid using force against protesting lawyers.
“Lawyers must also resolve their matters with LHC amicably. For the safety of the citizens of Lahore, confrontation should be avoided,” she said in a post on X.
However, Lahore High Court Bar Association (LHCBA) president Asad Butt said while talking to Dawn News that the lawyers will continue to protest until their demands are met.
Canadian police on Tuesday were investigating a pre-dawn shooting at the home of superstar rapper Drake, whose sprawling property in a tony Toronto neighbourhood remained cordoned off.
Police inspector Paul Krawczyk said a security guard at the mansion on The Bridle Path road was taken to hospital with serious injuries sustained from an apparent gunshot wound after suspects in a vehicle opened fire.
The shooting, captured on grainy security camera footage that has not been released to the public, happened at 2:09am. The guard was standing outside the gates in front of the residence when the shooting occurred, Krawczyk told reporters.
“I cannot confirm if Drake was home at the time the incident occurred, but I can tell you that we are in contact with his team and they are cooperating,” the inspector added. He said the suspects fled in the vehicle, but no descriptions were offered.
Police taped off most of the area. Several small orange markers, believed to indicate locations of shell casings, could be seen scattered on the road’s edge in front of the mansion.
The deputy prime minister and foreign minister, Ishaq Dar, said on Wednesday that Saudi Crown Prince Muhammad Bin Salman is likely to visit Pakistan soon. Dar confirmed that the date of the Saudi Prince’s visit will be finalised this month.
“InshaAllah, the visit is due [and] I believe we may receive final dates [of the visit from Saudi Arabia] anytime in May,” Dar said while addressing the media at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in Islamabad on Tuesday.
The Saudi crown prince, also known as MBS, will visit Pakistan for the first time in five years. His last visit to the country was in February 2019, when Imran Khan was prime minister.
The deputy prime minister mentioned that during a recent meeting in Makkah, Pakistan’s delegation met with the Saudi crown prince. He assured Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif that he will visit Pakistan soon.
Travis Kelce, a famous football player in the NFL, and a bigger claim to fame being boyfriend of Taylor Swift, has landed a big TV role. He’ll be on Ryan Murphy’s new horror show called ‘Grotesquerie’.
Travis plays for the Kansas City Chiefs and has been in the news a lot lately because of his relationship with Swift. Another actor in the show, Niecy Nash posted a video on her Instagram account on Tuesday to share the news. She showed herself on camera and asked her followers to guess who she was working with on the show ‘Grotesquerie’. Then she turned the camera around to reveal Travis Kelce, confirming that he’s part of the show too.
Nash shared the video on her Instagram account and wrote, “This is what happens when Winners link up!! @killatrav Welcome to Grotesquerie!” Kelce shared the video again on his own social media and wrote, “Stepping into a new world with one of the legends! @niecynash1.” Besides Kelce and Nash, the FX horror series also stars Courtney B. Vance and Lesley Manville. ‘Grotesquerie’ will be shown for the first time in fall 2024.
Mawra Hocane, a top actor and loving aunt, recently revealed that she has a really cute nickname for her sister Urwa Hocane’s daughter, Jahan Aara Saeed.
In a recent interview with a digital magazine, Mawra talked about her joy of being an aunt for the first time. She spoke warmly about her niece, who is the daughter of celebrity couple Urwa Hocane and Farhan Saeed.
When asked about her relationship with her neice, Mawra responded, “Oh, it’s wonderful, the best feeling ever. I’ve never felt like this before. She has brought so much happiness into our lives.”
The actress remembered the first time she held Jahan Aara. She said, “It was so overwhelming. I couldn’t believe it, so I kept looking at her, then at Urwa, and then back at her.”
“Urwa and I keep saying that we have our third girlfriend now,” she added, saying that even though she loves her niece a lot, her sister still holds a special place in her heart.
The celebrity also shared that she calls her niece ‘Aaru Paru’. She’s also excited to see what her niece will call her when she starts talking.
Former caretaker prime minister Anwaar-ul-Haq Kakar and former Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) leader Faisal Vawda announced on Tuesday that they will not join either the government nor opposition sides in the Senate.
The Senate Secretariat released a notification about the six independent senators in the senate and their decision to join a party. According to the issued notification, two out of the six senators, Kakar and Vawda, decided to not join any side in the Senate.
Similarly, Senator Mohsin Naqvi, who is also a federal interior minister, was not sure about joining a side in the upper house.
However, Naqvi’s name was mentioned as a senator on the treasury bench with an additional note of “(Federal Minister, however, not yet opted)”.
Senator Abdul Qadir joined the government benches after winning the senate polls. The senator was initially part of PTI and then left the party after May 9.
Former speaker of the National Assembly and a senior leader of Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) Asad Qaiser, appeared on a talk show ‘Khabar’ with Meher Bokhari on ARY News and said that he refuses to apologise for the May 9 events.“We don’t even apologise to our fathers, why would we ask for forgiveness from anyone else,” he said.
On May 7, Director General of Inter-Services Public Relations (ISPR) Major General Ahmed Sharif Chaudhry said that the people involved in the May 9 riots must be punished as per the law.
The military spokesperson also said, “There can be no dialogue with an anarchist group,” he said firmly, adding that the “only way forward for the anarchists [group] is to apologise sincerely [for their acts], abandon the politics of hate and indulge in constructive politics [instead]”.
Asad Qaiser stated that PTI wants the constitution and law to prevail in the country saying, “We want all citizens to have equal rights, for that all the institutions have to work within their constitutional limits.”
The government on May 7 approved a supplementary budget worth Rs147 billion for various expenses including more than Rs36 crore for renovating the Prime Minister Office and expenses for the employees of the Karachi Shipyard and Engineering Corporation.
The Economic Coordination Committee (ECC) approved a budget of Rs162.5 million for renovating the PM’s Office, the Express Tribune has reported.
The ECC of the Federal Cabinet authorized the financial decisions, including increasing the federal government’s wheat procurement quota by another 400,000 metric tonnes.
Punjab farmers have suffered due to the flawed decision-making of the past caretaker government which imported 3.5 million tonnes of wheat despite domestic surplus.
Correspondingly, the government also allowed borrowing Rs41.5 billion to buy the commodity from farmers at Rs3900 per 40kg rate.
The third and most important phase of the Indian elections is over where citizens of 11 states and union territories participated, locking the fate of 52 per cent of the 543 parliament seats in the parliament.
Elections were held in 94 seats spread over 12 states on Tuesday, including all 26 seats in Gujarat where Modi and his home minister cast their votes. The day’s contests included five seats in Bihar, four in West Bengal, 11 in Maharashtra, seven in Chhattisgarh, 10 in Uttar Pradesh, 14 in Karnataka, and nine in Madhya Pradesh, where Congress defector and BJP candidate Jyotiraditya Scindia was in the race. Of these states, Karnataka and West Bengal are ruled by the opposition.
The fate of 285 seats is now sealed.
The Election Commission of India (ECI) ordered X, formerly Twitter, to take down an anti-muslim animated video posted by BJP Karnataka but avoided directly sending a notice to the BJP.
The video features caricatures of Congress leaders Rahul Gandhi and Mallikarjun Kharge, advancing the party’s recent messaging that Congress is diverting funds and resources away from lower caste Hindus towards Muslims.
Set back in Haryana
In a setback to the ruling BJP in Haryana amid the Lok Sabha election, three independent MLAs have withdrawn their support to the Nayab Singh Saini-led government in the state, quotes Dawn in a report.
The three MLAs — Sombir Sangwan, Randhir Gollen and Dharampal Gonder — made the announcement at a press conference in the presence of senior Congress leader and former Haryana chief minister Bhupinder Singh Hooda and Haryana Congress chief Udai Bhan.
Anti-muslim campaign
There were reports of police chasing away Muslim voters from polling booths in a constituency in BJP-ruled Uttar Pradesh. Elsewhere, names of some voters had allegedly disappeared from the voters’ list.
Dip in the stock market
Indian stock market has been experiencing strong episodes of uncertainty in recent sessions, leaving investors confided, reports claimed. Analysts were reading the turbulence at the stock exchanges as a sign of difficulties for Prime Minister Narendra Modi.
