Tag: twitter

  • ‘Sakoon sirf qabr mein’: Twitter trolls Imran, again

    ‘Sakoon sirf qabr mein’: Twitter trolls Imran, again

    Not coming down easy on him as usual, Twitterati are once again trolling Prime Minister (PM) Imran Khan for saying that life is not a fairy tale, and “one gets peace only in his or her grave”.

    “Happily ever after is a myth. It’s there only in fairy tales. In real life, one gets peace only when he or she lies in their grave,” the premier said Friday as he addressed the inauguration ceremony of a skills development programme called “Hunarmand”.

    It wasn’t later that his statements broke the internet as a majority trolled him, and some called his government out for its “flawed” policies.

    https://twitter.com/qureshik74/status/1215505916705026048

    A few also took to the micro-blogging website to express their support for the premier:

    https://twitter.com/rayqaaf/status/1215332507631214592

    The Rs30 billion four-year Hunarmand programme will provide easy loans, capacity building and internships to the youth.

  • Twitter to allow users to decide who can reply to their tweets

    Twitter to allow users to decide who can reply to their tweets

    In a surprising tech twist, Twitter announces that it is testing new ways to limit online abuse and will allow users to control who can reply to their tweets.

    Kayvon Beykpour, VP of product at Twitter revealed the plan at a conference in Las Vegas saying that, “the primary motivation is control…We want to build on the theme of authors getting more control, ” reports TechCrunch.

    Twitter will be experimenting with different options on who can reply and how much control to give the author of a tweet.

    The most private option would prevent anyone from replying to a tweet and users can select who they want to reply to their tweet. Other options include in limiting replies to people mentioned in the tweet or followers only.

    WATCH: PTI’s supporter Dr. Farhan Virk reveals why his Twitter account was deactivated

    It is unclear when this option will be released.

    Many Pakistani journalists, especially female anchors, have complained about on-going abuse on Twitter.

    Watch what anchor Gharidah Faruqi had to say when asked about being heavily trolled online in this The Current Life interview.

  • LUMS is back to being LUMS

    LUMS is back to being LUMS

    After brutal social media trolling and protest by students and alumni, the Lahore University of Management Sciences which became LUMS University aka LUMSU is back to being LUMS.

    In an email sent out to the faculty, staff and students, LUMS VC Dr Arshad Ahmad said that the earlier email was sent out in good faith and “to reflect the reality of our five schools that comprise our university.” He said that the message was not intended to change the university’s name and that there is no change in the formal name of the university.

    On Monday, LUMS announced that it was renaming itself Lums University as part of a recent overhaul. Soon after the email was sent out to students, professors and staff, the news made its way to social media and people started poking fun at the university’s new name. So much so, that LUMSU is currently trending on Pakistani Twitter at number 2.

    https://twitter.com/raasnabeel/status/1214099934875701248?s=20

    https://twitter.com/45623584/status/1214173454884323333?s=20

    Alumni were not having it.

    https://twitter.com/wingsforus/status/1214081225553534976?s=20

    Meanwhile, others called out users for directing their energy onto frivolous matters.

  • Mehwish Hayat has the perfect response to a misogynist troll

    Mehwish Hayat has the perfect response to a misogynist troll

    Mehwish Hayat should just change her middle name to ‘sassy’ because the responses she gives to trolls are simple brilliant.

    In a recent tweet, Mehwish condemned the US airstrike that killed Iranian military commander Qassem Soleimani in Iraq saying that the matter is not just about Iran and US but involves the entire world.

    In response to Mehwish’s tweet, a troll commented “since when did women start understanding international affairs.”

    The actor did not shy away from giving him a history lesson.

    This is not the first time, Mehwish has given such responses to trolls. Check out her sassy responses below:

  • Imran’s ex-aide called out for showing up at private New Year’s party uninvited

    Imran’s ex-aide called out for showing up at private New Year’s party uninvited

    Former foreign media head of the ruling Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) and a close aide of Prime Minister (PM) Imran Khan, Anila Khawaja, has been called out for showing up at a private New Year’s Eve party “without being invited to it”.

    Khawaja was called out by the host, Islamabad-based American blogger and former goodwill ambassador to Pakistan, Cynthia D Ritchie, after she trained guns at the latter for being “a foreigner who broke traditions of good grace and hospitality, and behaved rudely”.

    “When will we learn to stand together and be respected on r [sic] own soil let alone abroad,” Khawaja tweeted.

    Reacting to Khawaja’s claim, Ritchie didn’t go easy on her and pointed out how the ex-PTI foreign media head hadn’t even been invited to the party.

    “I know who you really are as a person: you’re threatening to write a tell-all about IK [Imran Khan] if certain things don’t go your way,” she said in a subsequent tweet.

    The tweet was followed by:

    While Cynthia has now also tweeted about how “fabulous” her New Year’s celebration was, Khawaja is yet to react to the developments.

    Anila Khawaja, who had been appointed as part of PTI’s decision to extend the media team of the party, started supporting Imran Khan’s politics when only a couple of people supported his political cause.

    She was educated, bred and born in West London’s Ealing area.

    Khawaja received her post graduate degree in education from Brunel University and became a British qualified teacher. She took a year out in 2005 to help out the victims in Pakistan during its worst natural disaster, leaving her family and a well-paid job behind.

    She got involved in relief work during the 2005 earthquake that hit Pakistan, causing the death of more than 70,000 people. She worked with Imran Khan Earthquake Relief Fund (IKERF) for a year when Khan’s party was turned into an NGO for a year.

    She was all set to return to London but was approached by the British High Commission to help start a British school in Islamabad.

    It was around 2008 that she formally joined the PTI. Soon after joining the party, she was given the responsibility to deal with international media – a role she successfully performed till last year when there were shuffles within the party.

  • ‘Lahore beats London’: Twitter goes crazy as mercury drops to 35-year low

    Twitterati, especially those from Lahore, lost it over the micro-blogging website after the residents of Punjab’s provincial capital woke up to the coldest winter morning in over 35 years.

    According to The Express Tribune, the temperature in the provincial capital was equivalent to Murree at 2°C early on Monday, which was followed by a minimum of 3°C and a maximum of 8°C on Tuesday.

    Data by Pakistan Meteorological Department (PMD) showed that shivering low temperature of 1°C was recorded in Attock and Dera Ghazi Khan, 2°C in Lahore, Murree, Rawalpindi, Multan, Chakwal and Bahawalpur, 3°C in Jhelum and 4°C in Sahiwal, Faisalabad and Sargodha.

    As winter blues grip Lahore, here’s what Twitterati have to say about it:

    https://twitter.com/fakihawajihaJvd/status/1211901883822071808

    Meanwhile, Chief Meteorologist Muhammad Riaz has highlighted that the current chilly spell would continue till mid-January.

    “Although climate change has some impact on weather patterns, there is nothing unusual. The coldest winter spell is witnessed from mid-December to mid-January every year,” he added.

    Weather reports issued by the PMD indicate that continental air is prevailing over most parts of the country and a shallow westerly wave is likely to affect the western and upper parts of the country from Tuesday (today).

  • Facebook blocks Radio Pakistan’s live streaming of Indian atrocities in Kashmir

    Facebook blocks Radio Pakistan’s live streaming of Indian atrocities in Kashmir

    Facebook has blocked Pakistan Broadcasting Corporation’s (PBC) live streaming of Indian atrocities and military lockdown in Indian occupied Kashmir (IoK), Radio Pakistan reported.

    According to the details, Radio Pakistan (RP) has shared screenshots of warning message from Facebook from back in May and July on its website, saying, “your post goes against our Community Standards on dangerous individuals and organisations.”

    According to the the screenshots shared by RP, the warning was given on posts that displayed the picture of Kashmiri freedom fighter Burhan Muzaffar Wani and in another post that mentioned Zakir Musa — a mujahid commander — in the headline.

    However, Radio Pakistan after the blockage its live streaming from Facebook has said on Monday that it has made “alternate arrangements on YouTube for live streaming for its viewers.”

    It is important to note that RP has been highlighting the voice of the people of IoK and exposing Indian atrocities and gross human rights violations at every major platform including social media.

    In addition to Facebook, the micro-blogging website Twitter had also suspended hundreds of accounts and removed multiple posts from Pakistan that were raising voice against Indian brutalities in Kashmir, reportedly under pressure from India.

    Pakistan Telecommunication Authority (PTA) had earlier approached both social media platforms and submitted complaints against their actions.

  • NUST called out for ‘disappointing’ reaction to ‘on-campus rape’ claim

    NUST called out for ‘disappointing’ reaction to ‘on-campus rape’ claim

    National University of Sciences and Technology (NUST) has been called out for its disappointing reaction to a student’s claim of being raped on its Islamabad campus, which surfaced over the internet on Tuesday.

    According to Dawn, reports had claimed that a female student was sexually assaulted by a construction worker behind the girls’ hostel. The girl also reportedly complained to the varsity administration, “but no action was taken or FIR [First Information Report] registered”.

    With social media flooding with posts claiming that rape did take place, NUST on Tuesady night took to Twitter to deny the same. It termed the reports “a desperate act of seeking attention” while also slamming “false rape allegations”.

    https://twitter.com/Official_NUST/status/1209500489785729026
    https://twitter.com/Official_NUST/status/1209500493971623936

    “NUST is safe, and people have no reason to pay heed to this deceitful accusation,” read a subsequent tweet.

    https://twitter.com/Official_NUST/status/1209500496119181313

    It wasn’t later that people started calling out the university for its “dissapointing” reaction.

    Meanwhile, an international public policy and gender reforms specialist, Salman Sufi, who introduced the Punjab Protection of Women Against Violence Act 2016 and South Asia’s first Violence Against Women Centre, urged the varsity to allow an independent probe into the incident.

    “Safety must never be a factor students have to compromise on to secure an education. The era of student abuse on campus must be brought to an end now,” Sufi said while speaking to The Current.

    “I have decided to launch a confidential reporting mechanism for students from all across Pakistan where they can report sexual abuse on campus and we will take action on it. To start, if NUST doesn’t allow or initiate independent investigation into rape allegations, I will move a case in court to compel them to do so.”

    He further said that time for institutions or individuals to “self-stamp their exoneration from any assault allegation” had ended, and there must be an independent third-party review of facts.

  • Wrong spellings trend on Twitter after govt also wishes Merry ‘Chrismas’

    With Christians across the globe celebrating Christmas on
    Wednesday, a hashtag wherein the holiday was misspelled, started
    trending on Twitter.

    Funnily enough, the official handle of Government of Pakistan also tweeted using the hashtag.

    https://twitter.com/pid_gov/status/1209729795522809856

    While the origin of the spellings has not yet been determined, here’s how ‘Chrismas’ is being wished over the micro-blogging website, all across the globe.

    MERRY CHRISTMAS FROM THE CURRENT!

  • Hamza Ali Abbasi takes his words back about not accusing judges of being anti-Army

    Hamza Ali Abbasi takes his words back about not accusing judges of being anti-Army

    Ever since a special court on Tuesday awarded death penalty to former president General (retd) Pervez Musharraf for high treason, there is pretty much nothing else anyone can talk about.

    Hamza Ali Abbasi, who is one of Pakistan’s most vocal actors, has been tweeting furiously on the matter. Earlier in the day Hamza had requested people who support Musharraf to express their views without accusing judges of being anti-Army or pro-Nawaz Sharif.

    However, after the special court issued its detailed verdict, an excerpt of it went viral on social media, Hamza remarked that he takes his “words back about not accusing judges of being anti-Army or anti-Pakistan.”

    “We direct the Law Enforcement Agencies to strive their level best to apprehend the fugitive/convict [Musharraf] and to ensure that the punishment is inflicted as per law and if found dead, his corpse be dragged to the D-Chowk, Islamabad and hanged for three days,” read the excerpt.

    Earlier, he had tweeted that PML-N and others need to apologise for their allegations on the judiciary, during the cases against the Sharifs.

    He also added that the courts should apply the same procedure to Ishaq Dar others who are not present in the country.