Current Final

Author: News Desk

  • PTI’s Pakistan more corrupt than PML-N’s Pakistan for second consecutive year: Transparency International

    PTI’s Pakistan more corrupt than PML-N’s Pakistan for second consecutive year: Transparency International

    Transparency International (TI) — a Berlin-based international non-governmental organisation combating global corruption — on Thursday released a new report, according to which, the country under the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) government, for the second consecutive year, has witnessed more corruption than it did in the outgoing year of the former ruling Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N).

    According to TI’s global report on the 2020 Corruption Perception Index (CPI), while Pakistan’s ranking and CPI score in 2019 dropped from 117 to 120 and from 33 to 32, respectively, the ranking has now fallen down to 123 and CPI score to 31 in 2020.

    The report comes at a time when the Prime Minister (PM) Imran Khan-led government boasts of the success of its promised accountability drive against opposition lawmakers and government officials. The same has time and again been termed as “political victimisation” by those on the radar of the National Accountability Bureau (NAB).

    Before the second consecutive drop, Pakistan witnessed a slight improvement in the 2018 CPI, scoring a point higher than in 2017 but remaining unchanged in the rankings. The country scored 33 out of 100 on the index — one point better than its score of 32 in 2017 and 2016. Its ranking, however, remained unchanged at 117 out of 180 countries, in 2018.

    TI’s annual report on CPI is formulated on the basis of input from 13 international agencies. In the case of Pakistan, however, the assessment of eight agencies is taken into account. These include the World Economic Forum Executive Opinion Survey; the World Bank Country Policy and Institutional Assessment; the World Justice Project Rule of Law Index; the Bertelsmann Stiftung Transformation Index; the Economist Intelligence Unit Country Risk Service; the Global Insight Country Risk Ratings; the IMD World Competitiveness Center World Competitiveness Yearbook Executive Opinion Survey; and the Varieties of Democracy project’s findings.

    Pakistan in the last 11 years had improved its index score from 23 in 2010 to 33 in 2018. However, never in the said time period had Pakistan been assessed to have performed negatively when compared to the previous year, which has now happened twice.

  • Baby on the way for Zaid Ali T and Yumnah

    Zaid Ali T and his wife Yumnah Ali T have announced that they are expecting their first child.

    Read more – It’s raining…celebrity babies

    Sharing the good news on social media, Zaid wrote: “We are going to be parents! By the grace of Allah, we have been blessed with a child!”

    “Today is the happiest day of my life,” he added.

    Similarly, Yumnah, while sharing the news said that she cannot “wait to be a mom!”

    Soon after the couple announced the news, wishes poured in from loved ones and followers.

    The Canadian-Pakistani YouTuber and Yumna tied the knot in 2017. Zaid has over 2.9 million followers on his YouTube Channel.

  • ‘It was awful’: Priyanka Chopra regrets endorsing fairness products

    ‘It was awful’: Priyanka Chopra regrets endorsing fairness products

    Priyanka Chopra-Jonas has said that she has expressed her deep remorse for promoting skin-whitening creams in her upcoming memoir Unfinished. The book is scheduled to release on February 9 and will chronicle Priyanka’s childhood, facing racism during her teenage years in the US, winning Miss India and Miss World, and the challenges she faced while navigating a career in Bollywood and Hollywood.

    Speaking to Marie Claire, Chopra-Jonas, said: [Skin lightening] was so normalized in South Asia; it’s such a large industry that everyone was doing it. In fact, doing it is still a check [mark] when you are a female actor, but it’s awful.”

    “And it was awful for me, for a little girl who used to put talcum-powder cream on my face because I believed that dark skin was not pretty,” she said, adding that she hated being described as “dusky” by industry influencers and the media.

    Priyanka further shared that her new sustainable beauty brand, ‘Anomaly’, is a metaphor for the self-acceptance she’s finally found. She is hopeful that men and women today don’t feel like they have to live up to the restrictive beauty standards that she used to.

    “I’m an anomaly, and everyone else is in their own way,” says the actor.

    Meanwhile, talking about her journey and accomplishments, Priyanka said: “For that girl who was so scared, I’m proud of the person that I evolved into. I dealt with a lot, and I came out thriving. I want little girls around the world to think about that. It doesn’t matter where you come from; it doesn’t matter what your circumstances are. Your grit matters, your ambition matters, your perseverance matters.”

    Earlier on 2015, while talking to journalist Barkha Dutt about endorsing fairness creams, Priyanka had said: “I felt really bad about it, that’s why I stopped doing it.”

    “All my cousins are gora-chitta (fair) I was the one who turned out dusky because my dad is dusky. Just for fun, my Punjabi family would call me ‘kaali, kaali, kaali’. At 13, I wanted to put fairness creams and wanted my complexion changed,” she shared further.

    Read more – Priyanka Chopra reportedly defies lockdown rules in London to visit the salon

    Later, sharing a screenshot of Priyanka’s statement on her Instagram story, Iqra Aziz wrote, “When will we [regret endorsing fairness creams]?”

    It is pertinent to add here that Iqra is one of the few female Pakistani actors who has not endorsed a fairness product. Her husband Yasir Hussain had publicly lauded her for rejecting a lucrative offer to represent a fairness cream brand.

  • Fahad Mustafa says ignoring Fawad Alam for a decade was ‘a failure of our system’

    Fahad Mustafa has condemned the Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) for ignoring Fawad Alam for a decade.

    “If you want to witness what a failure of our system really is, watch Fawad Alam playing like a champ that he really is. We have wasted 10 years of this incredibly talented athlete,” wrote Fahad on social media.

    Fawad, who was ignored for almost eleven years, has gone on to score a century during the Pakistan vs South Africa series, happening in Karachi. This is the cricketer’s third century. He scored his first in 2009 when he hit 168 on his Test debut against Sri Lanka while opening the innings. Since then Alam has played just six Tests having made a comeback in 2020. He scored his second hundred in New Zealand during the Pakistan vs New Zealand Test series after he got a chance to play when Babar Azam was ruled out due to his thumb injury.

    Meanwhile, Pakistanis including celebrities, politicians and sports analysts cannot stop praising Alam for his brilliant feat and many have called out the previous selectors for ignoring his talent.

    https://twitter.com/hadouken51/status/1354387696471437312?s=20

  • VIDEO: Visibly annoyed info minister stops Shahbaz Gill from speaking to media after PTI meeting

    Federal Information Minister Shibli Faraz was on Wednesday caught visibly annoyed on camera when he expressed displeasure over his colleague and Prime Minister (PM) Imran Khan’s special assistant, Dr Shahbaz Gill, having an informal conversation with media persons.

    As per the details, PM Imran chaired the parliamentary party meeting of the ruling Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) following which Gill was seen speaking to journalists before the information minister could hold his scheduled press conference.

    In videos of the episode doing the rounds on social media, Faraz was seen asking Gill as to what he was doing.

    “I was just giving them [journalists] economy-related points,” PM’s aide tells the government spokesperson over which the latter tells him that he was headed for the scheduled post-meeting presser.

    WATCH VIDEO:

    “If you want to talk to journalists, join me for the press conference,” the information minister can be heard as adding after saying that it was his job but Gill had been doing so for quite some time.

    “I won’t join you [for the presser],” Gill says after continuing to explain for a while that he was only updating journalists on facts and figures regarding the country’s debts.

    “Then don’t,” the information minister says and storms out, leaving Gill rather embarrassed in front of media persons.

    It may be noted that Faraz is the third information minister after Fawad Chaudhry and Firdous Ashiq Awan, who discharged her duties as the pemier’s special assistant on information in the absence of a minister.

    Gill, on the other hand, was called to centre after spending some time in Punjab as Chief Minister (CM) Usman Buzdar’s spokesperson.

  • Hadiqa Kiani’s ‘Jaanay Iss Dil’ is Indo-Pak’s first female qawwali

    After a powerful acting debut in Hum TV’s Raqeeb Se, Hadiqa Kiani has enthralled fans with her first qawaali Jaanay Iss Dil.

    In an exclusive interview with The Current, Hadiqa revealed that Jaanay Iss Dil is Indo-Pak’s “first-ever female qawwali“.

    The composition is nothing like anything has Kiani has ever done before. The award-winning singer collaborated with the legendary qawaali icon, late Ustad Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan’s patent Tabla player, Ustad Dildar Hussain for Jaanay Iss Dil.

    “Qawaali is indeed the purest form of music. Having had the opportunity to jump into a genre that is somewhat outside my comfort zone, I have an even greater appreciation for the art that is Qawaali,” said Kiani while talking about her latest venture. “The opportunity to work with Ustad Dildar Hussain, someone who has been an important part of Ustad Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan’s entourage was nothing short of extraordinary.”

    Later, while celebrating the qawwali’s success and the response it got, Hadiqa said that “this was a project of love”, adding that she is grateful that her audiences “were able to connect to our message through the power of pure music.”

    “No auto-tuners, no heavy machines, just the beauty of our regional music, our language, our instruments,” she added.

    Meanwhile, the poetry of the qawwali has been selected by Abrar Hussain and verses of numerous classic poets have been incorporated to enrich it with Girah Bundi.

    The qawwali has been musically arranged and recorded live by one of Pakistan’s leading music producers and Hadiqa’s long-time collaborator and brother, Irfan Kiani, without the use of click track or auto-tuners. Kiani also incorporated the all-elusive Sarangi instrument to add to the beauty of this qawaali. The sound has been mixed and mastered by Eva Kiani.

    Read more – Hadiqa Kiani pays a rich tribute to Ertuğrul with a song in Turkish

    The qawaali has been produced by Mian Yousaf Salahuddin for Sufiscore and has been visually captured by director Abdullah Haris. Mohsin Naveed Ranjha did the wardrobe while Shahama Sajid designed the set.

    Listen to it here:

  • Here’s how you can register for COVID-19 vaccine in Pakistan

    Here’s how you can register for COVID-19 vaccine in Pakistan

    The National Command and Operations Centre (NCOC) has finalized the COVID-19 vaccination strategy as the country expects the first batch of a Chinese vaccine by January 31.

    The government has approved three COVID-19 vaccines including Russia’s Sputnik-V, China’s Sinopharm and UK’s Oxford-AstraZeneca so far.

    Here is a step-by-step guide to get coronavirus vaccine:

    Step 1: Citizens including frontline healthcare workers will send CNIC number to 1166 through SMS or use NIMS website for registration.

    Step 2: After necessary verification, designated AVC (Adult Vaccine Centre) (based on “Present Address” and PIN Code will be sent to the citizen through SMS)

    Step 3: If the designated AVC is outside the current tehsil of the citizen, he/ she can change the designated health facility by visiting NIMS web portal or by calling 1166 helpline within 5 days of receipt of the first SMS.

    Step 4: Upon availability of vaccine at the Designated Vaccination Centre, SMS will be sent to the citizen to intimate appointment date for vaccine administration.

    Step 5: After successful registration, the citizen will visit AVC on date of appointment along with original CNIC and received PIB Code (mandatory).

    Step 6: Vaccination staff will verify the CNIC and PIN code.

    Step 7: After successful verification, the citizen will be vaccinated. Upon vaccine administration, vaccination staff will enter the details in NIMS and confirmation message will be sent to the citizen through SMS. Citizen will stay in AVC for 30 min for the post-inoculation monitoring.

    Step 8: Real-time dashboard for the federal, provincial and district health department will be generated automatically.

  • PTI leader asks PM to bring Tareen back ahead of Senate polls

    The Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) lawmaker Raja Riaz has asked the prime minister to make estranged PTI leader Jahangir Khan Tareen the chairman of the committee formed to choose candidates for the upcoming Senate elections.

    During a parliamentary party meeting on Wednesday with PM Imran Khan in the chair, the PTI lawmaker, who hails from Faisalabad, said that Tareen’s services for the PTI cannot be ignored and demanded that the senior leader be made the head of the committee.

    He also asked the PM to include Punjab Governor Chaudhry Sarwar, Foreign Minister Shah Mahmood Qureshi, Amir Kiyani, and Ijaz Chaudhry in the body formed to choose Senate candidates.

    In November last year, Tareen, who had drifted away from Imran Khan after he was named in a sugar scam, had returned to Pakistan after spending five months in London.

    Tareen, once a close confidant of PM Imran Khan, had a falling out with the prime minister and party leaders after he was named in an inquiry ordered by the PM over hike in sugar prices. The report made public by the government had named other politicians as well.

    A news report claimed that Tareen took this decision to end his self-imposed exile after Imran assured him a free trial about the ongoing issues among other things.

    Following the report against Tareen, Raja Riaz had defended him at the time as well. He had warned of huge loss to the PTI if Jahangir Tareen parted his ways with the party. He had claimed that some people were providing wrong information to PM Imran Khan about Tareen.

  • Owner of Kapoor Haveli demands Rs 2 billion for property

    The owner of Kapoor Haveli in Peshawar has refused to sell the house to the government at the price set by the authorities.

    According to a report in The News, the owner of the mansion Haji Ali Qadir is asking for Rs 2 billion for the property whereas, the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP) government has set a price of Rs 15 million for the house.

    Speaking to the publication, Qadir had said that the price set by the government was ridiculous as “half a marla of land is not available in Dhaki Nalbandi near historical Qissa Khwani bazaar for Rs15 million and the government is giving us Rs15 million for a six marla house”. He added that the government has yet not made any formal contact for property and that he is getting news about it from the media.

    He further shared that his father Haji Khushal had bought the property in 1965 through a government auction.

    “When our father bought the house, the gold was Rs50 per tola,” said Qadir. “In this house, diyar wood has been used which is very expensive.”

    Read more – Rishi Kapoor’s unfulfilled wish: a visit to Pakistan

    On the other hand Director Archeology and Museum, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Dr Abdul Samad said the government has fixed the price of the house at DC rate as plots are bought and sold at DC rate in the area, adding that the government cannot pay more than the said price.

    Dr Samad further commented that if the owner has an objection to the price, he can submit an application to the Deputy Commissioner.

    Previously, when it had been reported that the owner is demanding at least two billion rupees for the historic haveli, the province’s archaeology department had said that it will use legal powers to purchase the Kapoor Haveli as well as Dilip Kumar’s house if needed.

    Read more – Dilip Kumar recalls memories of his ancestral home in Peshawar

    Meanwhile, Chief Minister KP Mahmood Khan recently approved funds of Rs 23.56 million to purchase the ancestral houses of Bollywood legends Dilip Kumar and Raj Kapoor in Peshawar. Both houses will be converted into museums after restoration work.

  • COVID-19: Does double-masking help?

    COVID-19: Does double-masking help?

    Wearing a mask has now become an important part of our lives to avoid the transmission of the COVID-19. The appropriate use, storage and cleaning or disposal of masks are essential to make them as effective as possible.

    There are often times when you spot people wearing two face masks at the same time, but the question is, does it help?

    In theory, a virus should have a tougher time getting through two layers than just one layer. In a commentary in the journal Med, Monica Gandhi, MD, MPH, a Professor of Medicine recommended wearing at least a “high-quality surgical mask or a fabric mask of at least two layers with high thread count.” But they added that wearing a cloth mask tightly on top of a surgical mask could provide even more protection.

     Anthony Fauci, MD, Director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID) also favours double-masking.

    “If you have a physical covering with one layer, you put another layer on, it just makes common sense that it likely would be more effective,” says Fauci.