Current Final

Author: News Desk

  • ‘Long March will be dealt with iron hands’: PML-N leaders and ministers react to Khan’s long march

    ‘Long March will be dealt with iron hands’: PML-N leaders and ministers react to Khan’s long march

    After Imran Khan, the Chairman of Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) on Tuesday announced that his long march will commence from Friday, federal ministers and Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) leaders came forward, stating that the government will deal strongly with the marchers who are planning to come to Islamabad.

    Federal Minister for Planning Ahsan Iqbal said that the long march was announced because Khan wants National Reconciliation Ordinance (NRO) to escape punishment in the foreign funding and Toshakhana cases.

    PML-N leader and former federal minister Abid Sher Ali said that, “The government will deal with the long march with iron hands. There is no leniency for certified thieves”.

    Meanwhile, PML-N leader and former Prime Minister (PM) Shahid Khaqan Abbasi said that Khan can do whatever he wants but the government is not going anywhere. “Imran Khan may launch a long march or do as he wishes, the government will remain as it is,” he stressed.

    While speaking on the Geo News’ programme ‘Aaj Shahzeb Khanzada Kay Sath‘ he said that neither politics nor democracy will survive in the country if a tradition takes hold to overthrow the government through long marches.

    He posed a question: “Why does a long march take place whenever bilateral relations with China get off the ground?” Moreover, he mentioned that the last time when the long march was announced, Chinese President Xi Jinping was set to visit Pakistan.

    It is pertinent to mention here that in 2014, President Xi had to call off his scheduled visit to Pakistan because of the political unrest in the country caused by long march in the federal capital. At the time, the Chinese ambassador had even approached Khan to suspend his protest for a few days in order to allow the visit to take place. However, he refused.

    On October 25, Khan announced his party’s much-awaited long march. The march will begin on Friday, October 28 from Lahore’s Liberty Chowk at 11am.

  • Security officer providing security to polio workers shot dead

    Security officer providing security to polio workers shot dead

    A police officer deployed with a health worker administering polio vaccinations was shot and killed by unidentified gunmen in Balochistan, Abid Hussain reports for Al Jazeera.


    The police officer, Muhammed Hashim, was shot on Tuesday morning as he waited outside a home in Pishin city where a worker had gone inside to administer immunisation drops as part of a vaccination programme that had started on Monday.

    The law enforcement official, not the health care provider, was the target of the attack, Yasir Bazai, Pishin’s deputy commissioner, has said.

    “We are not going to suspend the campaign and it will continue as scheduled. However, security has been beefed up around polio teams in the rest of the province,” he told Al Jazeera.

    Pakistan and Afghanistan are the only two countries in the world where polio has not yet been eradicated. To formally eradicate the disease, a nation must be polio-free for three consecutive years. Nigeria was declared free from wild polio in August 2020.

  • Azad Jammu and Kashmir gets its first-ever commercial airline

    Azad Jammu and Kashmir gets its first-ever commercial airline

    In an attempt to promote tourism in the area, President Dr Arif Alvi has announced commercial helicopter flying operations of Kashmir Air in Azad Jammu and Kashmir (AJK).

    The president stated that AJK is gifted with enormous natural beauty and tourist potential and that the business sector should step forward to enhance AJK’s tourism industry in order to realise its full potential. The president was speaking at the inauguration ceremony for Kashmir Air on Tuesday in Bagh.

    According to Samaa, a private firm called Kashmir Air will launch regular commercial helicopter flights to the AJK and other parts of northern Pakistan to transport visitors.

    The president spent a full day in AJK, where he opened the helicopter flight service, paid a visit to the flagship facility of a healthcare IT business in Bagh, inaugurated a high-end private school, and learned about plans to build a hospital in Abbaspur.

    Along with developing tourism-friendly regulations to encourage private-sector investment, President Alvi asked the AJK government to promote environmentally responsible and sustainable tourism.

    He stated that tourism was now a major industry in many developing nations and was seen as a key driver of foreign exchange earnings, employment creation, and the elimination of economic inequalities.

    The president claimed that the UN had failed to settle the Jammu and Kashmir conflict in a manner that satisfied the demands of the Kashmiri people.

    He claimed that the UN resolutions serve as the foundation for the people of Indian Illegally Occupied Jammu and Kashmir’s (IIOJK) resistance. He said that although the UN was established to prevent conflicts and wars, since its founding it has mostly served to advance the interests of western nations.

    “Genocide Watch has warned that Muslims and other minorities in India are insecure but nobody is coming forwards to listen to the minorities and Muslims of India who are under constant threat,” the president added.

    He reaffirmed Pakistan’s desire to resolve all of its disputes, including Jammu and Kashmir, through dialogue. Pakistan desires a peaceful resolution to the IIOJK, but the president has cautioned India not to see Pakistan’s peace efforts as a sign of weakness.

    He claimed that the IIOJK people had made immeasurable sacrifices and that Pakistan will continue to stand with them morally, politically, and diplomatically until they were granted the right to self-determination in accordance with UN resolutions.

  • Director FIA, Deputy Director Intelligence Bureau to go to Kenya for Arshad Sharif’s murder investigation

    Director FIA, Deputy Director Intelligence Bureau to go to Kenya for Arshad Sharif’s murder investigation

    The Ministry of Interior has established an inquiry team to look into the killing of prominent journalist Arshad Sharif.

    In this context, the government has released a notification.

     Federal Investigation Agency (FIA) Director Athar Waheed, Deputy Director-General IB Omar Shahid Hamid are part of the probe team.

    Autopsy of Arshad Sharif:

    An autopsy of slain journalist Arshad Sharif will be carried out in Pakistan.


    According to Sharif’s family, police and the federal capital’s administration will help in conducting the postmortem procedure with a team of three doctors. The late journalist’s mother has reportedly insisted that a renowned surgeon be present during the hospital autopsy.

    The senior journalist’s remains will be transported to Pakistan Institute of Medical Sciences, the largest government hospital in the capital. The body has been kept in the Quaid-e-Azam International Hospital’s mortuary for now.


    In the early hours of Wednesday, a Qatar Airways jet carrying his body landed in Islamabad. The coffin containing his mortal remains was handed over to his family at the airport in Islamabad.

    “My Arshad is back, but in [a] coffin,” his wife Javeria Siddique said on Twitter

    In the early hours of Wednesday, a Qatar Airways jet carrying his body landed in Islamabad. His body was handed over to his family at the airport in Islamabad.

  • Shahzeb Khanzada calls out Maryam Nawaz for her ‘fascist’ tweet, says she needs to apologise

    Shahzeb Khanzada calls out Maryam Nawaz for her ‘fascist’ tweet, says she needs to apologise

    Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) Vice President Maryam Nawaz’s insensitive tweet about senior journalist Arshad Sharif made headlines with people from both sides of the political divide condemning the content.

    “I don’t feel good re-tweeting this but this is a lesson for mankind that we must all imbibe,” the PML-N leader wrote in a tweet along with a photo of Arshad Sharif’s coffin at the airport.

    The original tweet, retweeted by Maryam, claimed that the anchorperson used to say Nawaz Sharif had sent her late mother back home in a parcel, adding that Arshad Sharif used to make fun of other people’s death and now his time had come.

    https://twitter.com/MaryamNSharif/status/1584836576080990208?s=20&t=8K-rN6nu7wepgsk3p-A1fw

    Twitter was ablaze with not just the public but many renowned journalists condemning the act by the PML-N leader.

    After several hours, Maryam deleted her tweet and apologised on Twitter.

    Her tweet said, “My tweet was not aimed at mocking someone but about learning our lessons from the past. I am undoing the tweet and apologise for the hurt it may have caused to the aggrieved which never was my intention. May no one ever have to go through this pain. Prayers for the bereaved family.”

    Geo News’ anchorperson Shahzeb Khanzada was one of those who condemned the tweet and said that it is full of vengefulness and fascism.

    He further called out the PML-N leader and said that she needs to delete the tweet and apologise because she has hurt Arshad’s family who is still waiting for the arrival of his body.

    Senior journalist Hamid Mir also corrected Maryam Nawaz by posting an old tweet of Arshad’s in which the slain journalist had wished Kulsoom Nawaz recovery when she was ill.

  • ‘Investigation should be held on why Arshad Sharif had to leave Pakistan’: DG ISPR

    ‘Investigation should be held on why Arshad Sharif had to leave Pakistan’: DG ISPR

    Director-General of the Inter-Services Public Relations (ISPR), Major General Babar Iftikhar, has said that the military has requested the federal government to conduct a “high-level investigation” into the killing of senior journalist Arshad Sharif in Kenya.

    On October 23, Sharif was shot dead near Nairobi, Kenya, by the local police. The local law enforcing authorities have termed the killing a case of ‘mistaken identity’.

    While talking to 24 News, DG ISPR said, “We have requested the government to hold a high-level investigation so that all these speculations can be put to rest.”

    Gen Iftikhar stressed that it is important to find out why the journalist left Pakistan, where did he live all this time, and what circumstances led to this incident.

    “Investigation should be held that why Arshad Sharif had to leave Pakistan,” the DG ISPR said while adding that we have to put an end to the speculations.

    He regretted that people are accusing institutions, stressing that the military has also requested the government “to take legal action against all these people who are leveling allegations without any evidence”.

    “This is why it is most upsetting that his death is being used for baseless conversations and fingers are being raised on it. We just have to see who is using this unfortunate incident, who is the beneficiary of this thing,”‘ General Iftikhar pointed out.

    Describing Arshad Sharif as a “very professional man”, the General observed that everyone is sad about his tragic death.

    Earlier in the day, General Headquarters (GHQ) asked the government to constitute a high-level panel to look into the tragic circumstances of Arshad’s death.

  • YouTube rolls out new design with better features

    YouTube rolls out new design with better features

    A new look, a pinch-to-zoom function, precise seeking, new buttons, ambient mode, and a dark option that is “much darker” are all part of YouTube’s interface update unveiled on Monday.

    The changes will be gradually rolled out to all users.

    Users of iOS and Android devices may zoom in on videos on YouTube using the new pinch-to-zoom function to see additional information. In August, Premium members had access to this functionality as a test.

    Users will be able to quickly locate a certain segment in a video with precise seeking. Users can drag the cursor or slide up on the video to see a row of thumbnails on both desktop and mobile devices. Users can utilise this to locate the precise place in the video they need to revisit.

    The new version of YouTube includes a feature called “ambient mode” that uses “dynamic colour sampling” to match the background colour of the app to the colours in the video being watched. In the official blog post, YouTube’s UX Director Nate Koechley wrote.

    According to what we gather, the new impact is extremely modest and only intended for aesthetics. The idea is to engage the audience and draw attention to our watch page, Koechley continued.

    With YouTube’s dark theme, ambient mode will be accessible on both desktop and mobile devices. Additionally, video playlists will have it available.

    New buttons under videos are among the extra modifications. We will soon see buttons in place of video links in the video description, reducing distractions. Furthermore getting updated and exhibited in a smaller size are the like, share, and subscribe buttons.

  • PM decides to form judicial commision to investigate the Arshad Sharif killing

    PM decides to form judicial commision to investigate the Arshad Sharif killing

    Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif has decided to form a judicial commission to probe the death of senior journalist Arshad Sharif. The judicial commission will be headed by a high court judge, Federal Information Minister Marriyum Aurangzeb confirmed on Tuesday.

    “The judicial panel can also seek assistance from civil society and media in this regard,” she said.

    The government is required to keep journalist organisations on board while conducting an investigation by the Islamabad High Court (IHC). Shoaib Razzaq had filed a petition in IHC, requesting the court that a judicial commission must be formed to probe the death of Sharif.

    According to reports, local police in Kenya shot and killed Sharif on Sunday night. A police statement afterwards expressed “regrets on the tragic occurrence” and said an investigation was ongoing.

  • US urges Kenya to investigate Arshad Sharif’s killing

    US urges Kenya to investigate Arshad Sharif’s killing

    On Tuesday, the United States of America urged Kenya to conduct an open investigation into the killing of Pakistani journalist and anchor person Arshad Sharif.


    “We’re deeply saddened by the death of Arshad Sharif,” said the US State Department spokesperson Ned Price.


    “We encourage a full investigation by the Government of Kenya into his death. It’s not entirely clear that we know all the circumstances at this point regarding what led to his death, but we do urge a full investigation,” the spokesperson added.


    “And it’s clear through his work that Arshad Sharif was dedicated to that fundamental right of freedom of expression – took him around the world. His work was known around the world.”


    Prime Minister (PM) Shehbaz Sharif on Monday urged Kenya to ensure fair and transparent investigations into the murder of senior Pakistani journalist Arshad Sharif.
    Taking to Twitter, the Premier said that he had made a telephone call to Kenyan President William Ruto about the killing.
    “I requested him to ensure fair & transparent investigation into the shocking incident,” he wrote on Twitter.

  • Case of mistaken identity or assassination? Kenyan media raises questions

    Case of mistaken identity or assassination? Kenyan media raises questions

    Kenyan media is raising question on the death of Pakistani Journalist Arshad Sharif.

    “Was it a case of mistaken identity or was it a case of assassination of a journalist known as a sharp critic of the Pakistani government?” a television news report broadcasted on a Kenyan news channel asked.

    The report states that on the night of October 23, Arshad Sharif, accompanied by his ‘brother’ Khurram Ahmed, left a farm owned by his friend.

    At Kamukuru Road, the car he was travelling was shot at. The police statement admitted that they had opened fire on the vehicle, stating that the incident was a case of mistaken identity.

    The Questions the report asked:

    Did the police attempt to stop the vehicle and did the occupants defy the orders?

    Why did the police open fire even though the occupants of the car were not shooting at that time?

    Why did not the police shoot at the tyres to immobilize the car instead of using lethal force?

    Why did the police aim at the passenger and not the driver?

    Why did the police open fire when they suspected that a child was on board the vehicle that was reportedly carjacked?

    If the vehicle was commonly seen on that road then what caused the mistaken identity?

    How did the police confuse KDG 200M and a KDG 700F number plates? What was the colour and model of the vehicle that was carjacked?

    Arshad Sharif died on Sunday night in Kenya in a reported shooting incident. He was killed after being hit by a bullet in the head as his car crossed a police blockade. Admitting to the killing, Kenyan police has called it an incident of ‘mistaken identity’.

    Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif has called Kenya’s President  William Ruto and asked for a conclusive investigation into the incident.