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Author: News Desk

  • Twitter welcomes first female Supreme Court Judge of Pakistan

    Twitter welcomes first female Supreme Court Judge of Pakistan

    History has been made as a divided Judicial Commission of Pakistan (JCP) approved the nomination of the first woman judge to join the Supreme Court (SC).

    Lahore High Court Justice Ayesha A. Malik’s nomination was secured by a majority of five to four during a heated JCP session that lasted nearly three-and-a-half hours, reports Dawn.

    She may even have a chance to become the first woman to be Chief Justice (CJ) of Pakistan. If she is elevated following approval from an eight-member bipartisan parliamentary committee, Justice Malik will remain a judge of the SC until 2031.

    The justice gave her landmark judgment back in June, when she had declared virginity tests for examination of sexual assault survivors “illegal and against the Constitution of Pakistan”. She was called upon as an expert witness in family law cases conducted in England and Australia involving issues of child custody, divorce, women’s rights, and constitutional protection for women in Pakistan.

    Following the news, congratulations are in order and people have shared their happiness on Twitter.

    https://twitter.com/nighatdad/status/1479122512785072129?s=20

  • 2022 Grammy Awards officially postponed due to rise in Covid cases

    2022 Grammy Awards officially postponed due to rise in Covid cases

    The Grammy Awards event, which honours the best musical performances, has been postponed indefinitely due to the rapid spread of the Omicron type of the coronavirus, according to organisers.

    The performance was supposed to be held in a downtown Los Angeles arena on January 31 and broadcast live on the CBS network.

    “Given the uncertainty surrounding the Omicron variant, holding the show on January 31 simply contains too many risks,” CBS and the recording Academy said in a joint statement, adding that a new date would be announced soon.

    The Grammy Awards for 2021 have likewise been postponed because of the COVID-19 epidemic.

    Organisers had hoped to return this year to something closer to the traditional celebration with a large audience inside the former Staples Center, now called Crypto.com Arena.

  • ‘Phupho ki beti?’: Twitter confused over picture of girl with Babar, buttoning up his coat

    ‘Phupho ki beti?’: Twitter confused over picture of girl with Babar, buttoning up his coat

    Pakistani Twitter is confused after two pictures of Pakistan Skipper Babar Azam with a girl, who is buttoning up his coat, starting circulating on the social media. Netizens are confused about who the girl is. Babar is currently single.

    Tweeple have writen some very cool assumptions about who the girl can be.

    https://twitter.com/kashafayy/status/1479331481847803906?s=20

    One user wrote that if she’s a stylist.

    https://twitter.com/AsiaShahid18/status/1479339364484272130?s=20

    The another one wrote: “I think ye Babar ki phopho ki beti hai. Jis se uski mangni honey wali thi. (I thinks she is Babar’s aunt’s daughter to whom he was getting engaged).”

    https://twitter.com/KhazranSays/status/1479342376783163394?s=20

    One of the user asked the girl to follow Covid-19 SOPs.

    https://twitter.com/MasomAriba/status/1479183826010136576?s=20

    Earlier, the 27-year-old cricketer was accused by a girl of sexual harassment but in a massive relief for Babar, the Pakistan cricket team captain was cleared of all allegations as the woman who had complained withdrew the allegations.

    It was also reported earlier that Babar had gotten engaged to his paternal cousin. The news was not officially confirmed but it was also reported that Azam will tie the knot next year, adding that the decision was taken after the two families agreed to the proposal.

  • Opposition confused? Bilawal plans February protest in Islamabad, Maulana in March

    Opposition confused? Bilawal plans February protest in Islamabad, Maulana in March

    The season of ‘the long march’ is back on in Pakistani politics. Pakistan People’s Party (PPP) chairman Bilawal Bhutto-Zardari on Thursday announced that he will lead a “long march” against the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) government from Karachi to Islamabad on February 27.

    Addressing a press conference in Lahore, Bilawal said that the nation wants to get rid of the “selected” government and a transparent election is the only solution.

    Bilawal lashed out at the government and said that their “intentions are clear to get it approved by force” in Parliament.

    Terming the “mini-budget” as an “anti-state bill”, the PPP chairman said that we will protest in front of the Parliament House on the day voting is held.

    Contrary to the PPP, the Pakistan Democratic Movement (PDM) is determined to hold a long march on Pakistan Day, March 23.

    The Opposition alliance pledged to reach Islamabad on March 23 and warned the authorities against any attempt to use force to prevent the marchers from entering the federal capital. The announcement was made by Maulana Fazal-ur-Rehman, president of PDM, in December 2021.

    While talking to the media and PPP’s former alliance with the Opposition’s PDM, Bilawal said that PPP is not a part of PDM anymore.

    “Now it is up to them whether they resign from parliament or not,” he said, adding, “PDM has not consulted with us on its long march against PTI.”

    Reportedly, Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) Vice President Maryam Nawaz is yet to decide whether she will be marching along with Maulana or not.

  • Factcheck: Sindh is not closing down schools, offices because of Covid

    Factcheck: Sindh is not closing down schools, offices because of Covid

    A notification circulating all over social media stating that schools and offices are being closed until January 31 is fake. The notice was allegedly issued by the provincial government. However, the spokesperson of the Sindh government, Murtaza Wahab has denied that the provincial government issued any notification on the lockdown and closure of schools.

    Murtaza Wahab also said previously, in a high-level meeting, that the provincial government does not want to take strict action and requested people to follow precautionary measures to avoid the spread of the virus.

    The emergence of cases related to the omicron variant of coronavirus have exceeded 50 percent in the province, especially in Karachi.

    Meanwhile, the Sindh Minister for Health, Dr Azra Pechuho said on Thursday that the lockdown could be imposed after assessing the cases of omicron variant which is increasing steadily day by day.

    She also revealed that 500 cases have been reported during the last 24 hours which shows a widespread increase of the new strain of coronavirus.

  • ‘Omicron shouldn’t be categorised as mild’: WHO

    ‘Omicron shouldn’t be categorised as mild’: WHO

    The infectious virus Omicron is a less severe disease than the globally dominant Delta strain, but should not be categorised as “mild”, WHO Director-general Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus clarified.

    While giving the statement in Geneva, he said that just like previous variants, Omicron is hospitalising and killing people, reports Reuters.

    Janet Diaz, WHO lead on clinical management said that when Omicron was first detected, early studies showed that there was a reduced risk of hospitalisation.

    According to her, the impact on the elderly is one of the big unanswered questions about the new variant as most of the cases studied so far have been in younger people.

    Currently, healthcare systems are overwhelmed, and governments are struggling to deal with the new variant which has killed millions of people worldwide.

    The vaccine process is quite slow in many countries. According to Ghebreyesus, 109 countries will miss the WHO’s target for 70 per cent of the world’s population to be fully vaccinated by July.

    Pakistan recorded 1293 cases on Friday and the positivity rate stands at 2.52 per cent.

  • Door-to-door vaccination for women to start as Omicron spreads in Karachi

    Door-to-door vaccination for women to start as Omicron spreads in Karachi

    In view of the rapid spread of Covid-19 cases due to the Omicron variant in Karachi, the Sindh government has decided to deploy lady health workers (LHWs) and female vaccinators for door-to-door vaccination in the province. The government took the decision when it was discovered that most stay-at-home women are still unvaccinated, officials said on Thursday.

    “We have decided to send LHWs and female vaccinators to each and every house in Sindh to vaccinate people, especially women, against Covid-19 because most of the non-working women in Karachi, as well as other major cities and rural areas of Sindh, have been found to be unvaccinated,” MPA Qasim Soomro, Parliamentary Health secretary in the provincial assembly, told The News.

    Soomro ruled out any discussion within the government about tough measures and Covid-19-related curbs as they were placed during previous waves of the pandemic but called for an aggressive vaccination campaign to avoid harsh measures.

    “Vaccination of women against Covid-19 has largely been ignored by the heads of their families, especially those women who are housewives and don’t work in public and private sector offices and businesses. This section of the population is most affected due to Covid-19, especially the Omicron variant, which is targeting unvaccinated population very easily.”

    “Training of LHWs and female vaccinators is underway, and hopefully, they will be trained in vaccinating people by the end of this week. Door-to-door vaccination against Covbid-19 will hopefully commence by the start of next week.”

  • Most Valuable Cricketer: Mohammad Rizwan shines in PCB Awards

    Most Valuable Cricketer: Mohammad Rizwan shines in PCB Awards

    Pakistan wicket-keeper-batter Mohammad Rizwan had an exceptional year with the bat, behind the wicket as well in T20 cricket. The star cricketer bagged two awards in the Pakistan Cricket Board’s (PCB) annual awards. Rizwan has been given Most Valuable Cricketer Of The Year and T20 Cricketer Of The Year awards.

    There were a total of 10 categories identified with eight player’s categories and two special categories, including Spirit of Cricket and Umpire of the Year.

    Following is the complete list of winners in all categories announced by PCB in a press release issued after the online award ceremony:

    Impactful performance of the Year: Shaheen Shah Afridi

    Emerging Cricketer of the Year: Mohammad Wasim Jnr

    ODI Cricketer of the Year: Babar Azam

    Women’s Cricketer of the Year: Nida Dar

    Test Cricketer of the Year: Hassan Ali

    T20I Cricketer of the Year: Mohammad Rizwan

    Spirit of Cricket: Pakistan cricket team’s visit to the Namibia cricket team’s dressing room following their 45 runs victory to congratulate the Namibia side for qualifying for their maiden ICC Men’s T20 World Cup 2021 and then progressing to the Super-12 Stage.

    Umpire of the Year: Asif Yaqoob

    Domestic Cricketer of the Year: Sahibzada Farhan

    Most Valuable Cricketer of the Year: Mohammad Rizwan

    The independent panel that selected the winners included Rashid Latif, Marina Iqbal (former international cricketers), Tariq Saeed (broadcaster), Mazher Arshad (statistician), Majid Bhatti, Mohammad Yaqoob, Mohi Shah, Rizwan Ali, Shahid Hashmi and Sohail Imran (journalists).

    Rizwan won the PCB’s Most Valuable Cricketer of the Year award following a stellar 2021 in which he scored 455 Test, 134 ODI and 1,326 T20I runs, besides accounting for 56 batsmen behind the wickets across all formats.

    For the Most Valuable Cricketer of the Year award, Rizwan beat the strong competitors like Babar Azam, Hassan Ali and Shaheen Shah Afridi, who also had an impressive and outstanding year, which is reflected through Pakistan’s overall performance in 2021.

    “I feel humbled and honoured to have been adjudged Pakistan’s Most Valuable Cricketer of 2021. This is the PCB’s most prestigious award and to be recognised for my contributions in the team’s superlative performances across all formats in 2021 in such a way gives me tremendous satisfaction and happiness,” Rizwan said.

    “I thought I had an exceptional year in the shortest format of the game when I was able to hit a century early in the year against South Africa and then carry that confidence and momentum for the rest of the year. I give a lot of credit to our bowlers who bowled their hearts out and didn’t let the pressure get onto the batters by maintaining sustained pressure on opponents throughout the year.”

    Speaking on the ocassion, Chairman PCB Ramiz Raja said: “PCB Chairman Ramiz Raja: “On behalf of the PCB, I want to congratulate each award winner. They deserve all the applause and accolades for their tremendous consistency across all formats in difficult times that inspired their sides to outstanding performances throughout 2021, which have been widely acknowledged by the Pakistan cricket fans.”

  • PM Khan says he hasn’t decided whether COAS Bajwa will get an extension in November

    PM Khan says he hasn’t decided whether COAS Bajwa will get an extension in November

    Prime Minister (PM) Imran Khan during a one-on-one meeting with Dunya TV Islamabad Bureau Chief Khawar Ghumman, said that he had so far not thought about an extension in the tenure of Chief of the Army Staff (COAS) General (Gen) Qamar Javed Bajwa.

    “The current year has just started and November is far away. Then why there is worry about extension in the tenure of the army chief,” said PM Khan.

    When asked about rumours of a possible deal between the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) and the establishment to send Khan’s government packing and whether he felt threatened in any way, the PM said he personally was not under any kind of pressure. He added that he enjoyed the support of government allies and expressed the confidence that his government would complete its mandated five years.

    Terming Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf’s (PTI) defeat in the recent local government elections in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP) “a big loss”, and when asked how the PTI planned to ensure electoral success in local government elections in Punjab, the prime minister showed confidence in Chief Minister (CM) Punjab Usman Buzdar and hoped that his party would have a better showing when polls were held in Punjab.

    Talking about his party’s quest for accountability, the PM said major Opposition figures had not yet been tried on corruption charges and still walked free because of weak prosecution.

    He said the National Accountability Bureau (NAB) take cases before the court but they were not being prosecuted.

  • Social media reacts to Feroze Khan’s character wanting to go on a honeymoon in Ramzan

    Social media reacts to Feroze Khan’s character wanting to go on a honeymoon in Ramzan

    Social media users are reacting to a scene in a new Pakistani drama, ‘Musht-e-Khaak’ starring Feroze Khan and Sana Javed. The names of the characters are Mustajab and Dua respectively. In that particular scene Mustajab is asking his wife to go on a honeymoon in the month of Ramzan. The drama airs twice a week on Geo entertainment. The story of the drama revolves around the obsessive behavior of Mustajab who falls in love with Dua in the first meeting.

    Social media had every kind of reaction on the scene: