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Author: News Desk

  • ‘Stop lying’: Imaan Zainab, Aurat March protesters criticize Sherry Rehman for tone-deaf tweet

    At the Aurat March protest held in Islamabad on March 8, police officers were caught on camera assaulting female protestors and pushing them back by installing barbed wires.

    Politicians like the Minister of Climate Change, Sherry Rehman, condemned the clashes in a tweet and called for an inquiry on the conduct of the police officers who had brutally beaten the female protesters.

    Lawyer and activist Imaan Zainab Mazari-Haazir called Rehman out, writing in a tweet that the Minister had done nothing to prevent the police from preventing the peaceful protest from going on.

    “You came to the march for a photo-op and left after creating complete chaos which we were then dealing with for the next hour. You were rude to us in our meeting with you on 6 March and were aware of all the risks we were taking. Please save this drama for someone who believes it. Too little, too late.”

    Rehman responded to Mazari-Hazir’s tweet saying that she had left early due to a distress call, and offered an opportunity to meet all year round rather than just for a “one year episodic march”.

    “Oh please. I did not need your “photo op”; left a fully scheduled press con at PID (anyone can check) at 2.40 becoz I got a distress call. In my office I offered u a safe space thru the year to meet and build traction, not just a one year episodic march. With my broken shoulder I stood there but many were caught up in angry sloganeering. Have been the butt of many laathi charges but never behaved like this. Rudeness is never going to get u allies or grow solidarity. All the best”

    Mazari-Hazir then criticized Sherry Rehman for reducing Aurat March to a “one year episodic march”.

    “Calling it ‘just a 1 year episodic march’ shows what you really think of it. That in itself is sad. This ‘one year episodic march’ is a global practice- doesn’t mean collectives (or even individuals within them) are not working year round. Could have criticized what I said without punching down on movement.”

    Other Aurat March protestors also criticized the minister, calling her “condescending” for interrupting the trans performers present at the march.

    This user wrote: “You were extremely condescending to all of us whn we met u. You interrupted the Trans persons’ perfrmance by standing over them knowing fully well tht the media will follow u. U brought out the inner transphobes in the media persons who thn started strampling the trans performers”

    Another activist, Fauzia Yazdani tweeted how Rehman had refused to condemn the police officers who had started harassing and pushing back the protestors

  • ‘Aik do ghariyaan theen, mere betay ne le li’: Shahid Khaqan about his Toshakhana gifts

    Former Prime Minister (PM) and Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) senior leader Shahid Khaqan Abbasi has said that his son bought watches from Toshakhana which he had received from foreign dignitaries when he was the PM.

    In an interview with a web channel, Abbasi said that he doesn’t wear watches, adding that “aik do ghariyaan theen, mere betay ne le li” (There were some watches, which my son bought).

    He said that gifts are given to the military secretary, not to the prime minister, which are then deposited in the Toshakhana.

    Shahid Khaqan said that later the military secretary writes to the official that such a thing has been gifted, quoting the price if the PM wants to buy it for personal use. If you don’t buy them, they auction the gifts.

    The former premier said that his son took some watches from Toshakhana after paying the amount they asked for it. He added that he left the rest of the gifts in Toshakhana.

    The debate on Toshakhana started when former PM Imran Khan was accused of acquiring gifts without giving their full payment and selling them for profit.

  • Meta developing new social networking app to compete with Twitter

    Meta developing new social networking app to compete with Twitter

    Meta, the parent company of Facebook and Instagram, is developing a standalone text-based social network app that could potentially compete with both Twitter and its decentralised rival, Mastodon.

    According to reports, Meta is exploring the creation of a decentralised social network for sharing text updates, providing a separate space where public figures and creators can share timely updates about their interests.

    Meta’s Twitter-like app would allow the company to take advantage of the current confusion at Twitter, where cost-cutting has been widespread ever since Elon Musk’s takeover of the platform late last year. Companies have withdrawn their spending following Twitter’s restoration of suspended accounts and release of a paid account verification that resulted in scammers impersonating firms.

    The new app, codenamed P92, will allow users to log in using their existing Instagram credentials and will be based on a similar framework to Mastodon, a Twitter-like service launched in 2016.

    The decentralised platform cannot be run at the whim of a single entity and cannot be bought or sold. Meta’s plans come at a time when Facebook, its largest platform, is struggling to capture the attention of younger audiences. In addition, the company has invested heavily in the metaverse, a virtual world where users interact and work, which has yet to come to fruition.

    Instagram, its video-sharing app, is also facing tough competition as content creators or hit influencers abandon the platform in favour of TikTok. It is currently unclear when Meta will launch the new app.

  • CM Mohsin Naqvi says PTI worker died in car accident

    Interim Punjab Chief Minister (CM) Mohsin Naqvi and Punjab Inspector General (IG) Dr Usman Anwar on Saturday jointly addressed the press conference, presenting their case that Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) worker Ali Bilal lost his life in a car accident and not due to custodial torture by the Punjab police.

    Both of them claimed that PTI leadership had known the truth yet accused the Punjab government of Bilal’s death.

    CM Naqvi said that the Vice president of the PTI in Central Punjab Raja Shakeel informed PTI leader Yasmin Rashid that Bilal was hit by a car. Later, Rashid also informed the party about it at Zaman Park.

    He added that all the evidence will first be taken to Bilal’s family. He claimed that the PTI worker’s father was also offered money to stick to torture allegations.

    Naqvi asserted that the government will financially help the family.

    “I am accused of murder, is it that easy to level murder accusations on someone?” he asked, adding that the PTI is openly asking to file an FIR for the murder.

    Naqvi said he would have answered the accusations “in a different manner” had he not been in CM’s position.

    Addressing the presser, Punjab IG said that the people who brought Bilal to the hospital have been arrested and will be presented before a court.

    “Action will be taken if evidence of police torture is found,” the IG said.

    During the press briefing, confessional video statements of the two suspects, who are currently under police custody, were also played.

    On March 8, PTI workers were picked up by the police when a clash took place just before a scheduled election rally.

    Later, the party leadership claimed that Bilal was tortured and killed while in police custody. Bilal’s postmortem report, issued by the Mayo Hospital, says the victim suffered “massive blunt trauma”, while a fracture to his skull and subsequent bleeding has been cited as the cause of death. The report also noted damage to his liver, spleen and testes, which led to profuse bleeding.

  • Toyota IMC increases car prices by up to Rs2 million due to GST hike

    Toyota IMC increases car prices by up to Rs2 million due to GST hike

    Indus Motor Company (IMC) has increased the prices of all Toyota vehicles in Pakistan due to the recent hike in the General Sales Tax (GST) from 18 per cent to 25 per cent by the Federal Government. The models affected by the price hike include Toyota Yaris, Toyota Corolla Altis X, Toyota Hilux Revo (IMV III), and Toyota Fortuner (IMV IV).

    According to a circular released by the company, the economic uncertainties and extreme volatile situation of Pakistani rupee against US dollar have adversely impacted the cost of manufacturing for IMC. The company has therefore been compelled to pass on some impact to the market.

    The government of Pakistan has also enhanced the rate of Sales Tax to 25 per cent on all CKD vehicles with an engine capacity of 1400cc and above, except for IMV-I Single Cabin.

    Toyota Pakistan has stated that the mentioned car prices are subject to change and the prevailing prices at the time of delivery shall be applicable on all orders. Any change in Government levies and taxes, tariff, fiscal policies, import policies, forex, etc. will be on account of the customer.

    Here are the new prices of all Toyota cars after tax hike:

    Toyota Corolla Altis X latest prices

    ModelOld price (Rs)New price (Rs)Hike (Rs)
    Toyota Corolla 1.6 MT5,576,0006,169,000593,000
    Toyota Corolla 1.6 CVT6,111,0006,769,000658,000
    Toyota Corolla 1.6 Special Edition6,716,0007,429,000713,000
    Toyota Corolla 1.8 CVT6,423,0007,119,000696,000
    Toyota Corolla 1.8 CVT SR6,998,0007,759,000761,000
    Toyota Corolla 1.8 CVT SR BLK7,039,0007,799,000760,000

    Toyota Yaris latest prices

    ModelOld price (Rs)New price (Rs)Hike (Rs)
    Toyota Yaris 1.3 GLi MT4,316,0004,499,000183,000
    Toyota Yaris 1.3 GLi CVT4,588,0004,789,000201,000
    Toyota Yaris 1.3 ATIV MT4,558,0004,759,000201,000
    Toyota Yaris 1.3 ATIV CVT4,790,0004,999,000209,000
    Toyota Yaris 1.5 ATIV X MT4,911,0005,429,000518,000
    Toyota Yaris 1.5 ATIV X CVT5,213,0005,769,000556,000

    Toyota Hilux Revo latest prices

    ModelOld price (Rs)New price (Rs)Difference (Rs)
    Hilux Revo STD10,316,00011,439,0001,123,000
    Hilux Revo G MT11,184,00012,409,0001,225,000
    Hilux Revo G AT11,728,00013,019,0001,291,000
    Hilux Revo V12,969,00014,389,0001,420,000
    Hilux Revo V AT ROCCO13,675,00015,179,0001,504,000

    Toyota Fortuner latest prices

    ModelOld Price (Rs)New Price (Rs)Hike (Rs)
    Toyota Fortuner G 4x2L14,230,00015,809,0001,579,000
    Toyota Fortuner V 4×416,297,00018,099,0001,802,000
    Toyota Fortuner Sigma17,175,00019,079,0001,900,000
    Toyota Fortuner Legender18,112,00020,129,0002,017,000
  • ‘I don’t think PML-N can clean sweep in elections’: Miftah Ismail

    ‘I don’t think PML-N can clean sweep in elections’: Miftah Ismail

    Former Finance Minister Miftah Ismail has cast doubts over his party’s ability to sweep the upcoming general elections. In an interview with Geo News, the disgruntled Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) leader said that he believed whether Pakistanis have Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaaf (PTI) Chairman Imran Khan, PML-N supremo Nawaz Sharif, Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) Co-Chairman Asif Ali Zardari or martial law, nothing will improve the system until “we make systemic changes”.

    Talking about the upcoming general elections, Miftah said that he doesn’t see any party sweeping the elections; however, the PML-N leader was sure that he “absolutely does not see PML-N sweeping the elections.”

    Miftah said that any political party be it PML-N, PPP or PTI needs to talk to the people of Pakistan asking them about their real problems and needs.

    “When you hear the leaders today, you hear them say that I want to be the prime minister, there is one leader who is more into I, me and myself than others but it is all about them,” he said.

    “Nobody is talking about the people of Pakistan. What about the 60 per cent of people who earn Rs40,000 a month? What about the young people who cannot find jobs? What about the people living in rural areas? What about an average Pakistani child failing in science and mathematics,” he asked.

    Declaring that nobody is talking about real solutions, Miftah Ismail slammed politics as “just a fight for power, nothing else.”

    There are no new ideas and absolutely no competence, he maintained.

  • Weekly inflation in Pakistan jumps to 42.3% as prices increase ahead of Ramadan

    Weekly inflation in Pakistan jumps to 42.3% as prices increase ahead of Ramadan

    According to data released by the Pakistan Bureau of Statistics (PBS) on Friday, weekly inflation surged by 1.37 per cent week-on-week and 42.27 per cent year-on-year during the week ended March 9. This marks a 25-week high on an annualized basis, as prices of perishables have started to rise ahead of Ramadan. The surge in the sensitive price indicator (SPI) was attributed to the increase in prices of various commodities, including tomatoes, potatoes, onions, sugar, bananas, cooking oil, wheat flour, vegetable ghee, printed lawn, curd, milk, tea, shirting, broken basmati rice, and powdered salt. Meanwhile, a major decrease was observed in the prices of chicken, garlic, pulse moong, eggs, pulse masoor, LPG, firewood, and pulse gram.

    For the week under review, SPI was recorded at 243.87 points, compared to 240.57 points registered last week and 171.41 points recorded during the week ended March 10, 2022. Brokerage Arif Habib Limited noted that this was the highest weekly YoY number since September 8, 2022, when Pakistan recorded a rise of 42.70 per cent YoY on account of an all-time high in the prices of wheat flour following massive flooding across the fertile plains of Punjab and Sindh.

    The PBS data attributed the YoY rise in SPI to the jump in the prices of onions, cigarettes, gas charges for Q1, diesel, eggs, rice Irri-6/9, petrol, broken basmati rice, bananas, pulse moong, tea, pulse mash, pulse gram, and bread. Inflation has been rising sharply over the past couple of years, with Pakistanis, particularly those from lower and middle-income groups, struggling to make ends meet.

    The sticky inflation numbers, along with the stalled International Monetary Fund (IMF) programme, have pushed the State Bank of Pakistan (SBP) to raise its benchmark interest rate by 300 basis points to a 26-year high. Pakistan is desperately trying to persuade the IMF to disburse critical $1.1 billion funding, but inflation worries have led the central bank to elevate its interest rates by 10 percentage points since January 2022.

    Analysts expect that the recent decisions taken by the government to please the IMF for a meagre $1.1 billion bailout tranche could result in massive poverty, while businesspersons have also not ruled out a default despite fiscal tightening. The YoY SPI increased by 39.09 per cent, 40.98 per cent, 41.79 per cent, 42.53 per cent, and 44.14 per cent respectively for the groups spending up to Rs17,732; Rs17,733-22,888; Rs22,889-29,517; Rs29,518-44,175; and above Rs44,175.

  • ‘I was shocked by the success of Jab We Met’: Kareena Kapoor

    ‘I was shocked by the success of Jab We Met’: Kareena Kapoor

    It has been 16 years since the iconic Bollywood rom-com ‘Jab We Met’ took over our screens and cemented itself as one of the best films to ever come out of India.

    Kareena Kapoor who starred as the naive and bubbly Geet in the film, admitted in an interview with Mirchi that she was completely taken aback by the iconic status the film has been given, since at that time the actor was more focused on her film ‘Tashaan’:

    “I was in this whole zone of getting to size zero, I am working in Tashan, with Akshay (Kumar), Anil (Kapoor) and Saif (Ali Khan).”

    Kapoor also went on to reveal that she had been completely focused on training for her role in ‘Tashaan’, even while she was on the sets of ‘Jab We Met’:

    “I got the main part and it was a Yash Raj film and I was doing action for the first time and whenever I came on the Jab We Met set it would be like ‘Please I need to train because I am going for action training.’ I never thought, the reverse situation actually happened. I had all my bets on Tashan.”

    Shahid Kapoor, who played the introverted Aditya in ‘Jab We Met’ recently shared a clip of himself visiting fans at the cinema when the film had re-released once more.


    Speaking to Pinkvilla, Kapoor admitted that ‘Jab We Met’ was the type of rare film that is made once ever two decades, and was looking forward to doing another romantic film with the director, Imtiaz Ali, again:

    “We re-released Jab We Met recently and a lot of people are now asking me why ain’t I doing a film like this again. I feel, Jab We Met happens once in two decades and it’s not like an everyday film. Most of the films one does in this genre are bad, so one needs to pick up a decent script. In fact, Imtiaz (Ali, director) and I were also chatting to find something in this space again. I want to do something fun and exciting.”

  • Motorcycle dealers reportedly demanding Rs40,000 extra for instant delivery of Honda CG125

    Motorcycle dealers reportedly demanding Rs40,000 extra for instant delivery of Honda CG125

    The market for new and used motorcycles in Akbar Road, Karachi, which is the largest in the country, is experiencing a shortage of Honda CG-125 bikes at the showrooms of the company’s authorised dealers. The dealers are reportedly not accepting fresh bookings from customers due to thin supplies from the assembler.

    Non-Honda dealers are reportedly demanding a price of Rs252,000-255,000 for instant delivery of the CG-125 bike, which is Rs40,000 more than the company’s price of Rs215,000, despite not having the bike available in their showrooms.

    Some unauthorised dealers have already acquired a large number of CG-125 motorcycles from authorized dealers, apparently under an understanding to jointly make a windfall. Some dealers have cited Afghan nationals accompanied by Pakistanis as the reason for the stock shortage. However, 70cc bikes are readily available for instant delivery at showrooms.

    According to Dawn, market sources have stated that local bike assemblers exported 25,000 units of 70cc-125cc bikes over the past 11 months, in which Honda 125cc holds the lion’s share. They also believe that the actual volume of shipments of two-wheelers is more than the official export by the companies after individual purchases of bikes by customers for Afghan markets.

    Afghan businessmen are importing Pakistan-assembled motorcycles in large numbers daily through the Chaman border amid booming demand for two-wheelers in Afghanistan. The market for Honda CG-125 bikes is experiencing price hikes and shortages across the country, including Quetta and other cities of Balochistan.

  • Ranbir Kapoor under fire once more after comment on Alia Bhatt goes viral

    Ranbir Kapoor under fire once more after comment on Alia Bhatt goes viral

    Ranbir Kapoor is once more being criticized by fans for his insensitive comments about his wife, Alia Bhatt.

    The ‘Tu Jhooti Mein Makkar’ actor was previously called a misogynist by the internet when he was seen body shaming Bhatt during a livestream, while Bhatt had been pregnant with their baby, Raha.

    Kapoor is being criticized this time for a remark he made during an interview with ‘GOODTiMES. The ‘Brahmastra’ actor said he doesn’t want their baby Raha to have Alia’s personality, since the ‘Gangubai’ actor is very loud and ‘talks a lot’:

    “I just hope she has my personality rather than hers because I can’t have two women like Alia in the house,” he said. “Alia has a very boisterous personality; she talks quite loud and is vivacious. Two girls at home like that would be quite a daunting task for me. I hope Raha is a bit more quiet and demure like me so then we both can handle Alia.”

    Since this interview went online, Twitter users have slammed Kapoor as insensitive and misogynist for refusing to recognize how such comments about Bhatt are extremely hurtful.

    One user wrote: “I hate guys who do this to their wives. This low key mocking of their demeanor which they then pass on to the kids. Very common in Indian families.”

    Another user wrote “oh god oh god oh god if you don’t like your wives just say that stop making jokes at the expense of their literal personality and get a life”

    Many users were pointing out that Kapoor’s action was one of most common traits through which men put down confident and loud women by mocking and publicly humiliating them.