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Author: News Desk

  • ‘Zindagi Tamasha’ sweeps awards at 6th Asian World Film Festival

    ‘Zindagi Tamasha’ sweeps awards at 6th Asian World Film Festival

    Zindagi Tamasha may not have seen the light of the day in Pakistan, but it is receiving accolades and recognition internationally.

    Pakistan’s official entry to the Oscars, Zindagi Tamasha bagged the Snow Leopard Award for Best Film at the 6th Asian World Film Festival (AWFF) held on March 15. Lead actor Arif Hassan won the Snow Leopard Award for Best Actor for his performance in the film. Director Sarmad Sultan Khoosat received the award from Jury member Luba Balagova Kandoor, while Jury member Joanne Goh presented the award to Hassan.

    According to a press release, “Almost 40 films from over 20 participating countries were presented during the six-day Festival that included 11 Oscar submissions for Best International Feature Film and 12 Golden Globe submissions for Best Motion Picture – Foreign Language.”

    Directed and co-produced by Khoosat and written by Nirmal Bano, Zindagi Tamasha features Hassan, Eman Suleman, Samiya Mumtaz and Ali Kureshi in the lead roles. The film is centred around a naat khwan Rahat Khawaja (played by Hassan) and his family who are outcast from society when a video of him enjoying a song is leaked. The film premiered at the Busan International Film Festival held in October 2019 where it also won the prestigious Kim Ji Seok Award.

    The official synopsis states: “The film is an intimate portrait of a family as well as a scorching political commentary on little gods on this earth who police our private passions.”

    Meanwhile, Zindagi Tamasha is yet to release in cinemas in Pakistan. It was initially scheduled to hit screens on January 25, 2020, but immense backlash from religious circles forced the federal and provincial government to halt its release. However, in July 2020, the Senate HR committee cleared the film and allowed it to be screened once cinemas open post-COVID-19.

    While the director and team are yet to comment on their big win, Wahab Riaz congratulated the makers of the film for their achievement.

    About the Asian World Film Festival

    The Asian World Film Festival (AWFF), founded by Kyrgyz public figure Sadyk Sher Niyaz, brings the very best of a broad selection of Asian World cinema to Los Angeles to draw greater recognition to the region’s wealth of filmmakers and strengthen ties between the Asian and Hollywood film industries. Uniting through cross-cultural collaboration, the Festival champions films from over 50 countries across Asia, spanning from Turkey to Japan and from Russia to India and South-East Asia. The Festival is unique in that it predominantly screens Oscar and Golden Globe submissions for Best International Feature Film and Best Motion Picture – Foreign Language respectively. All films are showcased to members of the Motion Picture Academy, the Hollywood Foreign Press Association and all Guilds for enhanced exposure, media attention and awards consideration. AWFF is a non-profit organization under Aitysh USA.

  • VIDEO: ‘How to deal with corruption’ ft. Ali Gul Pir

    Comedian and rapper-vlogger Ali Gul Pir, who is known for his sarcastic and funny takes on different issues, has now shared a video on Prime Minister Imran Khan’s plan to eradicate corruption.

    “How to deal with corruption #NoMoreParty #NoMoreShaadi,” wrote Ali in the caption. He also PM Khan and added the original clip in the thread.

    In the video Ali, who has dubbed PM Khan’s voice on him, can be heard saying: “Woh koi jail se niklta hai. Arbon rupay ki corruption ke charges per, log phool pheank rahe hain uske uper.”

    “Mujhe yeh batein kaise corruption khatam hogi?,” says Pir further. “Jo corruption karega, rishwat dega, woh hamare me se nahi hai.“

    “Unn gharon me[jahan corruption hoti hai] log shaadi nahi karein gein, unko log parties per nahin bulaein ge,” adds the comedian.

    Meanwhile, netizens are loving the video. Check out some reactions below:

    https://twitter.com/farazazhar/status/1372205552898506755

    Earlier, on February 27, Pir released a song as a humorous tribute to the four trees Pakistan lost in the Balakot airstrike. In the song, the rapper talked about fantastic tea and fallen trees while gyrating in a forest in the video.

  • Army chief cites unresolved disputes as reasons behind regional debt, poverty

    Army chief cites unresolved disputes as reasons behind regional debt, poverty

    Chief of Army Staff (COAS) General Qamar Javed Bajwa on Thursday said unresolved disputes in South Asia were dragging the entire region into debt and poverty, in a veiled reference to the Kashmir issue.

    Addressing a gathering on the final day of the Islamabad Security Dialogue, COAS Bajwa said the national security encompassed more than just matters and affairs related to strengthening the country’s security forces.

    “It included development and human security as well,” he said.

    “We feel it is time to bury the past and move forward,” he said, adding that the onus for meaningful dialogue rested with India.

    “Our neighbour will have to create a conducive environment, particularly in occupied Kashmir.”

    “The world has seen the ravages of the world wars and the Cold War, wherein polarisation and neglect of virtues blighted the future and brought catastrophic consequences for humanity,” he said.

    “Today the leading drivers of change in the world are demography, economy and technology. However, one issue that remains central to this concept is economic security and cooperation. Frayed relations between various powers centres of the globe and boomeranging of competing alliances can bring nothing but another stint of Cold War.”

    Congratulating the National Security Division on organising the dialogue, Gen Bajwa stated that the contemporary concept of national security was not just about protecting countries from an external and internal threat.

    It is also about providing a conducive environment for ensuring human security, national progress and development, he said.

    The army chief’s comments come a a day after Prime Minister Imran Khan said that India would have to make the first move to normalise ties with Pakistan.

    “We are trying, but India would have to take the first step and unless it does that we cannot move ahead,” the prime minister had said while inaugurating the Islamabad Security Dialogue.

  • Maulana tells workers to continue long march preps despite PDM falling out

    Maulana tells workers to continue long march preps despite PDM falling out

    Jamiat Ulema-e-Islam-Fazl (JUI-F) chief Maulana Fazlur Rehman has directed the party’s Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP) chapter to continue preparations for the March 26 long march to Islamabad, reports said Thursday.

    A letter was written to the party’s KP leadership on Fazl’s directives, directing the leaders not to slow down the preparations. The letter said the long march has only been postponed until Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) makes its decision on the march.

    Nine of the 11 component parties of the Pakistan Democratic Movement (PDM) are ready to participate in the long march while PPP has sought time to make a final decision concerning en masse resignations, the letter said.

    The development comes two days after the opposition alliance announced to postpone the long march after PPP linked its resignations from the legislative assemblies with deposed prime minister and Pakistan Muslim League Nawaz (PML-N) supreme leader Nawaz Sharif’s return — a condition PML-N termed out of the question.

    “Nine parties [of PDM] were in favour of resignations along with the long march but PPP had expressed some reservations,” Fazl told reporters on Tuesday, adding the PPP would discuss the matter during its upcoming central executive committee (CEC) meeting.

    A day earlier, Fazl held a telephonic conversation with Nawaz and urged him to return to Pakistan, saying with top PML-N leadership living abroad in self-exile, it was difficult to execute decisions taken by the opposition alliance.

    After spending a year in prison, Nawaz, 71, secured a conditional bail in November 2019 to travel to London on the pretext of medical treatment and has since refused to return.

    His party insists that despite being summoned by the courts, which declared him a proclaimed offender in multiple corruption trials, the former premier will only return after the completion of his medical treatment.

  • Asad Umar warns stricter lockdowns if SOPs not followed

    Minister for Planning and Development and National Command and Operation Center (NCOC) chairperson Asad Umar has said the country has witnessed a sharp rise in COVID-19 cases, warning that if the standard operation procedures (SOPs) are not followed, the government will be forced to take stricter measures.

    “Sharp spike in COVID positivity,” wrote Umar in a tweet. “Hospital daily admissions and people in critical care rising fast.”

    “If SOP compliance does not improve, we will be forced to place stronger restrictions on activities,” warned the minister, adding: “The new strain spreads faster and is more deadly.”

    The NCOC also warned the same in a statment.

    “The NCOC was apprised on implementation of various health guidelines as already issued to all federating units. NCOC was apprised that implementation on those guidelines needs comprehensive review. NCOC showed serious concern on rising disease trend and mortality rate,” read the statement.

    “The forum was briefed that a sharply rising trend in disease is visible and positivity has crossed 7.5 percent. Almost all major cities have crossed 5% positivity,” it said further. “Provincial administrations have been asked to take immediate actions for strict implementation of SOPs.”

    The NCOC added that “serious concern was shown on general disregard of SOPs by masses. Mass violations of SOPs and disrespect of orders including not wearing of mask, disregard of social distancing are widely reported.”

    It appealed to the citizens “to display good example of social behavior and follow the SOPs in letter and spirit, otherwise, strict measures will have to be taken which may result into closure of business and restrictions on economic and social activities.”

    The NCOC further said that COVID vaccination centers across the country will remain closed on Sundays and national holidays.

    Read more – COVID-19: Here’s what you can and cannot do amid lockdown in Punjab

    Later, Minister for Industries Hammad Azhar also urged businesses and corporations to strictly implement COVID protocols to avoid inconvenience.

    According to the latest statistics, Pakistan has reported a total of 3,495 new coronavirus cases in the last 24 hours. This is the highest number of daily cases recorded since 3,795 cases on December 6, 2020.

    A total of 61 deaths were reported in the last 24 hours. Meanwhile, the national positivity rate has risen to 7.8 per cent as the country battles a third wave of the pandemic.

    Meanwhile, Umar on Wednesday also announced that over 41 thousand people were vaccinated the previous day marking the highest daily vaccination rate. Vaccinations for those aged 60 and above commenced on March 10.

  • HR ministry directs Lahore university to re-admit expelled students

    The Ministry of Human Rights (MoHR) has directed the University of Lahore to re-admit the expelled students, saying that the university “overreacted” on the matter.

    According to a report in Dawn, MoHR Parliamentary Secretary Lal Chand Malhi wrote a letter to the University of Lahore’s vice-chancellor, requesting him to re-admit the expelled students. The letter was reportedly written on March 16.

    The letter said that the university administration expelled the students without giving them the chance to explain themselves and that the university “overreacted” on the matter.

    Terming the university’s action as “moral policing,” the ministry said: “Both the girl and the boy did not commit such a heinous crime for which they were punished “severely and expelled from the university. This would destroy their career and future education opportunities.”

    “This kind of freedom[proposing] is outlined in Article 16 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights to which Pakistan is party and also under the UN Covenant on Civil and Political Rights,” read the letter further.

    Background

    The University of Lahore expelled two students for publicly expressing their love and proposing on university grounds. In a video that went viral on social media, a girl could be seen getting down on one knee and asking her partner to marry him with a bouquet of roses. The proposal ended with the two hugging each other.

    According to a notification, dated March 12, the two students were expelled for “[being] involved in gross misconduct and violation of university rules and were called to appear before the special disciplinary committee [but] failed to appear.”

    Public Reaction

    The expulsion of the students in Lahore over a public proposal has created an uproar on social media with users criticising the university administration for the shallow-minded approach. Prominent personalities who criticised the university for its decision included Federal Minister Fawad Chaudhry, PPP’s Sharmila Faruqi, Shehzad Roy, Yasir Hussain and Shaniera Akram.

  • Firdous Ashiq Awan lashes out at talk show host, guests

    Special Assistant to Chief Minister Punjab on Information and Broadcasting Dr Firdous Ashiq Awan lashed out at PPP’s Agha Rafiullah during Geo News Aapas Ki Baat, after which PML-N leader Mian Javed Latif walked out from the show.

    The debate started when Dr Awan mentioned PML-N while replying to a question about recent political developments, and Agha Rafiullah interrupted her, which enraged her and she lashed out at him and programme host Muneeb Farooq. Things further escalated when Rafiullah used a derogatory term to refer Firdous Ashiq Awan. The heated debate was beeped out several times when abuses were reportedly exchanged.

    She also accused the host of ‘ fixing’ the show saying such things always happen in this show.

    In December last year, PML-N’s Azma Bukhari and Dr Firdous Ashiq Awan had traded barbs in the same show, forcing the host to end the programme. However, their disagreement did not end even after the show, as both politicians almost came to blows on the news channel’s premises.

  • RFAK dedicates Lifetime Achievement Award to Pakistani citizens

    The Arts Council of Pakistan (ACP) has honoured Rahat Fateh Ali Khan (RFAK) with the Lifetime Achievement Award in recognition of his outstanding and great services to the field of entertainment. In addition to that, he was also given an Honourary Lifetime Membership, the Associated Press of Pakistan has reported.

    Sindh Minister for Culture Syed Sardar Shah, while speaking at the occasion he said that it was an honour for them to have such an esteemed artist of the present era among them. He further said that the two renowned voices of the sub-continent – Rahat Fateh Ali Khan and Abida Parveen – had emerged because of their own talents adding that a concert would be held in honour of these both artistes in the metropolis.

    He continued: “We are proud to present the lifetime achievement award and lifetime membership of Arts Council to Rahat Fateh Ali Khan in recognition of his massive achievements.”

    Later, RFAK also planted a tree at the occasion.

    Rahat expressed his joy over receiving the award and dedicated the award to Pakistani citizens.

    In 2019, received Wembley Arena Award. He is the first Asian singer to have received the award.

    https://twitter.com/RFAKWorld/status/1191328735770894336
  • ‘Zardari memes’ break the internet

    ‘Zardari memes’ break the internet

    Ever since PPP co-chairperson Asif Ali Zardari urged former prime minister Nawaz Sharif to return to the country at the earliest, memes have taken over the internet.

    Social media is lit with ‘Zardari’ memes and some of them will give you a good laugh.

  • Mohammad Wasim denies rumours of rift with Misbah-ul-Haq, Babar Azam

    Mohammad Wasim denies rumours of rift with Misbah-ul-Haq, Babar Azam

    Chief selector Mohammad Wasim has rejected claims of a rift with head coach Misbah-ul-Haq and captain Babar Azam. Over the past couple of days, different media reports suggested that both coach and the captain were unhappy with the team selection for the upcoming tours of South Africa and Zimbabwe.

    Wasim, while talking to a local media outlet, said that he has heard about the rumours of a rift between the trio but there are no legitimate grounds for these speculations.

    “I have been hearing about the same rumours [of rift] but I don’t believe there is any truth in this,” said Wasim. “We have a standard procedure which was followed during the selection of the teams for the South Africa home series and it was similarly followed this time around as well.”

    “The selection committee had three meetings with the captain and the coach whereas there were separate meetings of the selectors as well. So I don’t really know where are these rumours coming from.”

    The Men in Green are scheduled to face South Africa in three ODIs and four T20Is after which they will travel to Zimbabwe.

    Meanwhile, Pakistan batting great Inzamam-ul-Haq is also not happy with how things have panned out after the announcement of the squad for the upcoming tour of South Africa and Zimbabwe by Chief Selector Wasim.

    While speaking on his official YouTube channel, Inzamam revealed that skipper Azam is unhappy after his suggestions were ignored while selecting the team.