Current Final

Author: News Desk

  • Five Pakistani dramas with tragic endings that shocked the audience

    Five Pakistani dramas with tragic endings that shocked the audience

    We are all familiar with the token Pakistani drama formulae: boy meets girl, romance begins, saas intervenes, marriage, fights, divorce, forgiveness and then happily ever after. It’s such a prevalent formula that it’s no wonder that audiences crave a change with complex stories that can draw them in.
    However, once in a blue moon we have gotten interesting stories that deviated from the stereotypical shaadi drama to give us a heart-wrenching love story and left their audience completely devastated. Despite the ever-standing belief among drama creators that audiences need to keep being fed the same ‘Humsafar’ formulae, these dramas elevated themselves among the rest because they remind us that despite all our efforts, we never get the happy ending we crave and that is what life is all about. After a lot of careful searching, here are the five Pakistani dramas that deviated from the expected ‘happy ending’ and gave us a heart-wrenching love story audiences will never forget!


    1 Daastan


    Bano and Hassan’s love story was the epitome of what made Dastaan the timeless drama it remains today. Both fell in love when they met at Suraiya’s wedding. Both are engaged and Hassan immediately leaves for Rawalpindi to begin his job, promising that he would bring Bano along. However, this love story is torn apart by the violence of partition, after which Bano is forcibly married and Hassan believes her to be dead. When they meet up after years, Bano has a child, and because of the trauma of the violence she underwent and then at the hands of her abuser at her workplace, she gets admitted in a mental assylum.


    2 Ye Dil Mera


    Sajal Aly and Ahad Raza Mir broke hearts across the country when they chose to part ways, but real fans know that the couple had already been breaking hearts with this tragic drama about family trauma and long lost secrets. Aly plays Noor-ul-Ain, a student who starts interning at AK Oil Industry, whose CEO is Aman-Ullah Khan (Mir). Both get closer and are married in a few days, but are driven apart after Khan realizes that it was Noor’s father who had murdered his family. By the end of the drama, the couple decide to part ways in order to heal from their own wounds, and leave us unsure on whether they would come back together or not.


    3 Pehli Si Muhabbat


    Rakshi (played by Maya Ali) and Aslam (played by Shehryar Munawar) are childhood friends who start getting closer, but tragedy strikes when Rakshi’s father get’s married for the second time to Nargis, who was a former sex worker. Aslam’s elder brother, Akram, is the one who opposes this relation the most and orders the entire community to ostracize Rakshi and her family. Despite their efforts to convince their families to let them get married, Rakshi and Aslam are married off to other people. When they meet up years later at the marriage of their children, both reminisce their times together and say they were happy being each other’s first love.


    4 Ishq-e-Laa


    Shanaya (played by Sajal Aly) is a dedicated journalist who seeks to empower oppressed voices through her work, but her husband Azlan (played by Azaan Sami Khan) is unable to understand her passion for social issues and asks her to quit her job after marriage. However, when Shayana is killed while investigating a murder committed by the son of a rich man, Azlan is heartbroken and decides to fulfil her wish to fund Azka’s medical education. By the end of the series, when Azka and Azlaan are married, he goes to Shayana’s grave to tell her how much he loved her for influencing him to change his mindset.


    5 Mata-e-Jaan Hai Tu


    Haniya (played by Sarwar Gilani) and Ibad Uzar (played by Adnan Sami) are college students in America who fall in love and want to get married Ibad’s parents oppose the marriage. When Haniya’s grandmother passes away and she is distraught, Ibad decides to marry her. To convince his parents, Ibad flies back to Pakistan ten days after his wedding, but is killed on the day he is flying back. Haniya is distraught but decides to go back to Pakistan herself to start working for Ibad’s parents office. By the end of the drama, his parents and Haniya are incredibly close and are able to grieve together over the loss of their loved one.

  • SBP set to raise interest rates in response to IMF’s call for tighter monetary policy

    SBP set to raise interest rates in response to IMF’s call for tighter monetary policy

    The State Bank of Pakistan’s (SBP) Monetary Policy Committee (MPC) is expected to raise interest rates during an off-cycle review scheduled for today.

    The decision to hold this meeting earlier than the previously scheduled date of March 16th was made in an effort to expedite efforts to secure the anticipated International Monetary Fund (IMF) tranche.

    SBP’s MPC, established under the SBP Amendment Act, is authorized to make decisions based on macroeconomic fundamentals. Market expectations are for a benchmark interest rate increase, given the recent rise in treasury yields and growing investor concerns about rising inflation in Pakistan and globally.

    Reports suggest that the coalition government has agreed to raise interest rates from 17 per cent to 19 per cent in response to one of the IMF’s key conditions for reviving the loan program.

    Analysts recommend advancing the MPC meeting date to avoid the failure of the next T-bill auction. Discussions with the IMF have included the possibility of further monetary policy tightening and building up foreign exchange reserves by June 2023.

    The IMF has urged the SBP to raise the policy rate by 300 to 400 basis points to achieve a positive trajectory. Pakistan is taking measures to secure IMF funding, such as raising taxes, removing blanket subsidies, and relaxing exchange rate restrictions.

    While the government is optimistic about reaching a deal with the IMF, reports indicate that the lender expects interest rates to rise. Off-cycle rate reviews are not unusual in Pakistan.

  • PTI’s Jail Bharo Tehreek ends; election campaign begins from March 4

    PTI’s Jail Bharo Tehreek ends; election campaign begins from March 4

    After Supreme Court (SC) passed its verdict in the suo Moto case of election dates in Punjab and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP), Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) Chairman Imran Khan on Wednesday announced that his party would end its “Jail Bharo Tehreek (voluntary arrest movement)” and launch its election campaign on March 4 (Saturday).

    About the top court’s decision that elections will be held within 90 days, Khan praised the judiciary and said the nation stood with the court.

    However, he expressed fears that elections may not be held in 90 days, claiming that Law Minister Azam Nazeer Tarar tried to divide the judiciary.

    Slamming the federal minister’s views on the verdict, the PTI chief said: “His views on the Supreme Court verdict are shameful.”

    Khan added that since his government’s removal in April 2022, his party has won 30 by-polls out of 37.

    It is pertinent to mention that the elections in both provinces have been the core demand of PTI and the apex court’s verdict has been welcomed by the former ruling party.

  • ‘Insaaniyat iss mulk mein poori tarha zinda hai’: Amjad Shoaib released, discharged from case

    ‘Insaaniyat iss mulk mein poori tarha zinda hai’: Amjad Shoaib released, discharged from case

    A district and sessions court of Islamabad on Thursday discharged Defence Analyst Lieutenant General (retd) Amjad Shoaib.

    The orders were issued by Additional District and Sessions Judge Tahir Abbas Sipra when he announced the verdict on the review plea filed by the former three-star general against his physical remand.

    In a video Shoaib said, “Humanity is fully alive in the country.”

    Earlier this week, a local Islamabad court had sent the former army officer on a three-day remand.

    The former military man was arrested by the Islamabad police on charges of “inciting the public against national institutions” in a talk show.

  • Harry and Meghan told to vacate their ‘Spare’ British home

    Harry and Meghan told to vacate their ‘Spare’ British home

    The Duke and Duchess of Sussex, Prince Harry and Meghan Markle, have been asked to vacate their British home, Frogmore Cottage, where they were allowed to live by the late Queen Elizabeth.


    “We can confirm The Duke and Duchess of Sussex have been requested to vacate their residence at Frogmore Cottage,” a spokesman for the couple revealed in an email to The Washington Post.


    The reason behind this decision has not been revealed, however it has come only a few weeks before King Charles’s coronation in May.


    Media reports have said that the cottage is now being offered to Prince Andrew, who had been living on a larger property in Windsor grounds. However, Buckingham Palace has not confirmed this yet.

    Harry and Meghan had shifted to Frogmore Cottage in 2018 after their wedding. In 2020 when they stepped down from their royal duties, the couple moved to California but the cottage remained their home during their trips to Britain. They have time till May to empty the home.


    King Charles has long been a proponent of slimming down the monarchy and reducing its expenses. Prince Andrew, who was living at the 30-room Royal Lodge in Windsor, has reportedly also been told that the monarchy will not pay for the upkeep of the residence.

  • ‘Feel embarassed’: Khan reacts to Amjad Shoaib’s photo in lock up

    ‘Feel embarassed’: Khan reacts to Amjad Shoaib’s photo in lock up

    Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) Chairman Imran Khan has said that he felt “embarrassed as a Pakistani to witness the depths” the country has “sunk to” due to the “imported regime of a cabal of crooks and their handlers”.

    His comments came in reference to a photograph of defence analyst Lieutenant General (retd) Amjad Shoaib in a police cell, which went viral on social media platforms.

    “In desperation to cling to power and muzzle all dissenting voices, they have jailed a respected, patriotic Pakistani on sedition charges,” tweeted the PTI chief. 

    Shoaib was arrested by Islamabad police after a first information report (FIR) was registered against him on February 25 at Islamabad’s Ramna Police Station.

    According to the FIR, filed on the complaint of Islamabad Magistrate Owais Khan, the former army officer incited people to revolt against institutions and attempted to provoke disharmony and anarchy and create a law and order situation in the country through controversial statements he made on a TV show.

    In the complaint, Magistrate Khan said that the retired general — in an interview on BOL TV’s show ‘Imran Khan Bol Kay Saath’ aired on Saturday — passed statements that “incited government officials and Opposition from performing their government and legal duties”.

  • Pakistani rupee drops by more than Rs18 against US dollar due to delay in IMF deal

    Pakistani rupee drops by more than Rs18 against US dollar due to delay in IMF deal

    Pakistani rupee (PKR) experienced a significant decline of over Rs18.8 against the US dollar in the interbank market during intra-day trade, ahead of the monetary policy review and delay in the International Monetary Fund (IMF) deal.

    At approximately 11:40 am, the greenback was being traded at Rs285 against the local currency, compared to its previous day’s closing of Rs266.11.

    Zafar Paracha, the General Secretary of ECAP, expressed concern over the delay in the agreement with IMF and the lender’s demand to peg the currency rate with that of the grey market, which has resulted in market uncertainty.

    In his opinion, the current rate is too high and should not have risen to this extent. He also noted that the greenback was being traded at Rs290 in the grey market a day earlier.

    Adnan Asghar, a currency market expert, stated that the delay in the deal between Pakistan and the IMF has contributed to the depreciation of the rupee.

    He added that the uncertain political situation has also been a factor in the decline of the rupee’s value. Asghar warned that the country is approaching a default situation due to this delay.

  • Inflation in Pakistan reaches nearly 50-year high, raising concerns for citizens

    Inflation in Pakistan reaches nearly 50-year high, raising concerns for citizens

    Pakistan’s inflation, as measured by the consumer price index (CPI), surged to a record-breaking 31.5 per cent in February, largely driven by steep price hikes in food, housing, and transportation groups. This concerning development was recently reported by the Pakistan Bureau of Statistics (PBS), and has heightened expectations of an increase in interest rates during the upcoming monetary policy committee (MPC) meeting, which the central bank has scheduled for March 2.

    The February inflation rate marks the highest figure since available data dating back to July 1965, surpassing the previous record of slightly over 29 per cent in April 1975. The unexpected pace of price increases has surpassed the finance ministry’s expectations, who had projected an inflation range of 28 per cent to 30 per cent just a day before the report.

    According to Geo, the monthly inflation rate surged by 4.3 per cent in February compared to January, primarily due to increased average prices of food items such as poultry, fruits, pulses, oil, vegetables, ghee, LPG, gas charges, and domestic petroleum products.

    The inflation reading raises concerns that the government will need to review its strategy to secure the critical $1.1 loan tranche from the International Monetary Fund (IMF). Despite repeated efforts, the government has been unable to regain lost ground with the IMF and is continually delivering financial shocks to the people.

    According to PBS, the inflation rate rose in both urban and rural areas. Urban inflation increased to 28.8 per cent in February, while rural inflation soared to 35.6 per cent compared to the same month last year. In February of the previous year, urban inflation was recorded at 11.5 per cent, while rural inflation was at 13.3 per cent.

  • Malala Yousafzai: ‘Activism needs to go beyond just working with an NGO’

    Malala Yousafzai: ‘Activism needs to go beyond just working with an NGO’

    Social activist and film producer Malala sat down with Joyland screenwriter and director Saim Sadiq for an interview on Sky News, where she spoke about the reason that prompted her to become a producer for the film. The Nobel Prize winner revealed that storytelling was an important part of activism:
    “In my next phase of activism, I have to look at other means of storytelling as well. Activism needs to go beyond just working with an NGO. We need to find other ways in which we challenge the social norms that deny women their basic rights.”

    Yosafzai also reflected on why it was important that the main character of the film, Biba, was played by the trans actress Alina Khan, so that the story could accurately reflect the plights of the trans community.

    “The screen helps us to connect with people and really helps us to be more tolerant with others. I was so grateful that Saim made sure that the trans role is played by a trans woman. This was critical. Everyone’s story is important and it deserves to be told by them. And a trans person should be given the rights that everyone else is given,” she said.

    The Nobel laureate said that it was unfortunate that we don’t want people to talk about issues and don’t want these stories to make it to the screen. “I hope we can challenge that,” she stated.

    The ban on ‘Joyland’ came up in the discussion when director Saim Sadiq reflected back on how the film ‘‘turned out to be a big act of resistance.”
    “I realised when the film was being released, that there are a lot of people who are very uncomfortable with just the existence of this film,” he said.

    “Banning the film is perhaps the fastest way to make activism work and to get everybody to talk about the issues we want them to talk about.”

  • Minister gifts garland made of dollars and gold tiara to secretary on wedding

    Sindh Minister for Revenue Makhdoom Mehboub Zaman gifted a garland made of dollars and a gold tiara to his private secretary Saif Ali Shah at his wedding ceremony in Hyderabad.

    Apart from the minister, Member of National Assembly (MNA) Makhdoom Jameel uz Zaman and other officials also participated in the wedding ceremony held in Hyderabad.

    The pictures of the groom wearing the garland while sitting with the minister have gone viral on social media.