After four “wonderful” seasons, Misbah-ul-Haq and Islamabad United have parted ways. The PSL franchise will now have to select players without him.
In a tweet, the current Head Coach of the Pakistan Cricket Team, Misbah wrote: “Thank you IU for four wonderful seasons. Best of luck for PSL 6.”
Thank you @isbunited for 4 wonderful seasons. Best of luck for PSL 6. An amazing franchise, thank you to the owners, management and players. #UnitedWeWin
Similarly, Islamabad United also thanked him from their official Twitter account.
“IU will not be renewing Misbah already expired head coach contract given his commitments with the national team,” read an official statement. “We thank him for his great contribution to ISLU. We wish him the very best of luck with the national team.”
#ISLU will not be renewing @captainmisbahpk’s already expired head coach contract given his commitments with the National team. We thank him for his great contribution to ISLU. We wish him the very best of luck with the 🇵🇰 National Team.
Owner of Islamabad United Ali Naqvi also thanked Misbah for his “immense contribution to the team” and wished him the best for his future endeavours.
On behalf of #ISLU, I would like to thank Misbah for his immense contribution to the team. He captained us to 2 PSL trophies & was a mentor/coach in all seasons. We wish him the best in his professional as well as personal life. #Kaptaan, you’ll be #RedForever#UnitedWeWin 🙏🙏 pic.twitter.com/n1u2b0fUiI
Multan Sultans and HBL PSL 2020 finalists Lahore Qalandars will have the second and third pick, respectively.
Peshawar Zalmi and Quetta Gladiators, the champions of the 2017 and 2019 editions, will have the next two picks. Defending champions Karachi Kings will have the sixth pick.
The pick order for round one of the HBL PSL 2021 Player Draft was decided after a random draw in the presence of representatives of all six franchises at the PCB headquarters in Lahore.
According to reports, the drafting for season 6 will be held in the second week of January with the matches starting from February 20. The board is yet to decide on the involvement of players in the draft. It is also expected that the draft may be held virtually due to the rising coronavirus cases.
A Nepali airline flew its passengers to the wrong destination. Sixty-six passengers who booked their flights to Janakpur reached Pokhara instead.
As per reports, Buddha Air, a domestic airline, flew from Tribhuvan International Airport in Kathmandu to Pokhara that lies on the northwest side of the country instead of its assigned destination Janakpur, which is in the southern part of the country. The two cities are more than 400-kilometers away from each other.
An executive officer at the airline Astha Basnet said that the confusion happened due to “lapses in communication and failure to follow detailed standard operating procedure.”
The airline made the arrangements for the passengers to reach the actual destination. Even though there are no direct flights between Pokhara and Janakpur, the airline was granted special permission to fly there.
The commuters reached their destination Janakpur a few hours late than the schedule. No mechanical issues with the plane were reported.
The officials confirmed that the airport staff will receive additional training after the error.
Shehzad Roy received a marriage proposal on social media and the singer had a cheeky response to it.
Fashion journalist Haiya Bokhari on Twitter had proposed to Roy saying: “Can someone convince Shehzad Roy to marry me? I promise I’ll never dip into his skincare items?”
In response, the singer wrote: “Will try to convince him.”
🙈🙈🙈🙈 in a country of awful men, you're awesome!! Never change! Oh, wait… hehehe
The Pakistan Telecommunication Authority (PTA) has issued notices to Google and Wikipedia over the dissemination of “sacrilegious content” on their platforms, saying a legal action will be taken in case of a failure to remove the content.
In a press release shared on its Twitter handle, the PTA said that the action against the tech giant and the online encyclopedia was taken after “complaints regarding misleading search results associated with ‘Present Khalifa of Islam’ and unauthentic version of Holy Quran uploaded by Ahmadiyya Community on Google Play Store” were received.
Press Release: PTA issues Notices to Google Inc. and Wikipedia on account of disseminating sacrilegious content through the platforms. pic.twitter.com/AhG9PHCJS1
Calling it a matter of a “very serious nature”, the PTA approached Google with the directives “to immediately remove the unlawful content”.
“The platform has been issued with the notice under Removal and Blocking of Unlawful Online Content (Procedure, Oversight and Safeguard) Rules 2020 (“Rules”) to remove the sacrilegious content to avoid any legal action by the regulator,” it added.
According to the PTA, people also registered complaints against Wikipedia for “hosting of caricatures of Holy Prophet (PBUH) and dissemination of misleading, wrong, deceptive and deceitful information through articles portraying Mirza Masroor Ahmad as a Muslim”.
“After extensive communication on the matter, Wikipedia has been finally served with the notice to remove the sacrilegious content to avoid any legal action,” the statement added.
“In case the platforms remain non-compliant, PTA shall be constrained to initiate further action under Prevention of Electronic Crimes Act 2016 (PECA) and Rules 2020,” said the regulatory authority.
A Muslim man in Canada, who could not go to his family over the holidays due to the lockdown celebrated Christmas, for the first time and his heart-warming Twitter thread of ‘observations’ has gone viral on social media.
Mohammad Hussain, who works as a special assistant for parliamentary affairs at the Ministry of Innovation, Science and Industry, expressing his views on the holidays said: “Growing up, my Muslim family never celebrated Christmas.”
“This year I am not going home, because pandemic, so my roommates are teaching me how to have my first proper Christmas,” he continued. “I am approaching this with anthropological precision.”
Hussain then listed a few things he had observed about the way his roommates celebrated the event.
Hussain remarked that people spent more than their budget and that people had Christmas tree ornaments that were either ‘fillers’ or ‘keepers’.
“The fillers are the generic ones. The keepers are meant to be more special and unique. This second stream is stored in your family’s reliquary to be one day passed on to the children,” he shared.
Encouraged by his roommates to buy his own ‘keeper’ ornament, he bought a bagel decoration and was clearly not happy with the cost of it.
“That cost me $15.99. That’s more than three everything bagels. I am furious,” he wrote. “For what it cost, you best believe that I am insisting that it be passed on to my great grandchildren. If they break it I will haunt them.”
Hussain concluded his post by applauding Christmas celebrators. “This is a lot of work and very tiring.”
“I will say I am having a very pleasant time. I am learning that I enjoy Christmas music and gift purchasing. I am also learning that I do not enjoy peppermint.”
Hussain’s Twitter thread was liked by 170,000 people in less than 24 hours and widely shared on social media.
Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) President Shehbaz Sharif is in favour of a dialogue with the government instead of mass resignations and long marches, said a leader of the Pakistan Muslim League-Functional (PML-F) after a meeting with him in prison.
Muhammad Ali Durrani, the PML-F secretary general, called on Shehbaz at Kot Lakhpat Jail to hold “fruitful discussions” on the political scenario of the country. Durrani, who is an ally of the government, said he visited the PML-N chief on the directions of his party president Pir Sibghatullah because the “political leadership of the country wanted to see the nation united”.
He said the purpose of this visit was to assert the need for talks, functioning of parliament, and end a deadlock between the opposition and the government to avert en masse resignations and march on Islamabad. He told reporters that they also discussed the union of all factions of the Muslim League.
According to Durrani, the factions of the Pakistan Muslim League and the like-minded people should join hands — a suggestion endorsed by Shehbaz.
He also said that his visit to the jail was for a “national cause” and he met Shehbaz, not other party leaders, because he was the “president”. In an apparent reference to Maryam Nawaz, who is the de-facto president of the PML-N, Durrani said at this point there was no need to meet “sidekicks” as Shehbaz will soon have the control of his party.
The PML-N president, who represents the moderate group in the party, is in prison over graft charges. In his absence, the party is being run by Maryam Nawaz.
Not-for-profit press monitoring organisation Middle East Monitor has apologised for a report claiming that Prime Minister (PM) Imran Khan’s aide Zulfi Bukhari visited Israel, whereas a minister in Tel Aviv has also clarified that the country in Asia that could soon normalise relations with his country is not Pakistan.
As per the details, Bukhari, who is the premier’s special assistant on overseas Pakistanis, tweeted some documents, including a letter by the news media outlet wherein it had categorically acknowledged the reporting error and apologised.
“We have removed the offending item,” the letter read, saying that it had been sourced from several foreign media outlets.
Hope all those "senior" anchors & journalists apologise as openly as they placed false accusations on me, based on "this" source. As a future course I’d suggest they check their “sources” before embarrassing themselves. pic.twitter.com/g5XZ1ISEtU
“We accept Mr Bukhari’s refutation of the claims made in the report and sincerely apologise for the inconvenience it has caused,” concluded the letter dated December 23.
The development was followed by an Israeli cabinet minister also confirming that there was a fifth Muslim-majority country in Asia that was likely to soon normalise relations with Tel Aviv, but it was not Islamabad.
Speaking to the Israeli news outlet Ynet TV, Regional Cooperation Minister Ofir Akunis acknowledged that there is a potential for two more countries to normalise relations with Israel. He predicted that “there will be an American announcement about another country that is going public with the normalisation of relations with Israel and, in essence, with the infrastructure for an accord — a peace accord”.
One of those countries is reportedly in the Gulf, but he ruled out Saudi Arabia, therefore leaving many to believe it could be Oman. The other country is further to the east of Israel towards Asia, and is a “Muslim country that is not small”.
Okif dismissed the possibility of it being Pakistan, however, which many have suspected following PM Imran Khan admitting that “friendly” nations had been pressuring Islamabad to establish diplomatic relations with Tel Aviv.
Those “friendly” nations are thought to be Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates (UAE), particularly after Foreign Minister Shah Mahmood Qureshi told the UAE earlier this week that the country “will not and cannot establish a relationship with Israel until a concrete and permanent solution to the Palestine issue is found”.
The attributes described by Okif leave Afghanistan, Indonesia, Malaysia and Bangladesh as the only remaining Muslim-majority countries that are “not small” and do not already have open ties with Israel.
2020 has been a year like no other and with the end of the year approaching, we list you down the pictures that trended this year in Pakistan.
Here we go…
1. When Faisal Vawda brought an army boot with him to a talk show
The PTI federal minister brought an army boot to a live TV programme to troll the Pakistan People’s Party and Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz of the opposition for voting in favour of the Army Act in parliament amid their tirades against security forces.
2. Faisal Eidhi making donation to Prime Minister Imran Khan
Faisal Edhi, son of world-famous philanthropist Abdul Sattar Edhi and chairman of the Edhi Foundation, met Prime Minister Imran Khan and handed over a Rs10 million cheque for the premier’s coronavirus relief fund.
Days later, he tested positive for the virus, leading to speculations if the premier had also been infected.
3. Memes from the Last episode of ‘Mere Pass Tum Ho’
Remember, when MPTH lead character Danish was talking even after the heart rate monitor showed a straight line. From the “straight line” to “Mehwish slap” and ‘do takkay ki aurat’, all the memes were quite lit. Memes then light up the audience after a dull finale.
4. When Maria B landed into hot water
How could we forget Maria B’s fancy chandelier and the memes that broke the internet following the designer’s video with her husband telling the whole story behind the Punjab Police fiasco.
5. ‘I WILL SACRIFICE MY WHOLE LIFE FOR PAKISTAN’
Former Pakistan People’s Party (PPP) senator Sehar Kamran made the headlines for celebrating independence day with great enthusiasm at a Pakistani school in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia. Sehar was seen encouraging the students all in the spirit of patriotism.
6. Syra and Sheheryar turned up the heat with their photoshoot
Syra Yousuf and Sheheryar Munawar’s photoshoot for a local magazine became the talk of the town with people discussing how hot they look together.
7. When Ishaq Dar had a hard time in HardTalk
The former finance minister, who is residing in London while corruption cases against him worsen back home, recently appeared on the BBC talk show, videos of which went viral over what was claimed to be his “discomfort” on the hot seat.
The host, Stephen Sackur, however, says Dar wanted to be on that show and seemed to enjoy it.
8. Bakhtwar Bhutto Zardari’s Engagment
PPP’s Bakhtawar Bhutto-Zardari got engaged this year and all eyes were on her corona-exclusive wedding. Her engagement card became controversial when it required guests to provide a coronavirus test result before coming to the engagement but the talk of the town was her shawl. The shawl was embroidered with memories of her family, her favourite things and also her love for food.
9. Nawaz Sharif eating pizza in London
Former PM Nawaz, despite conviction in corruption cases, was allowed to travel abroad for medical treatment.
Currently in London, he has time and again been spotted taking a stroll in the park, dining at a roadside cafe, and most recently, enjoying pizza.
While criticism continues to pour in amid government’s efforts to bring him back, his daughter Maryam Nawaz seems to believe none of the stuff he has been seen doing is bad for his health.
10. Photoshoped picture of Maryam Nawaz Sharif’s hand
PML-N leader Maryam Nawaz was recently trolled by social media users after she shared a supposedly edited picture of the much-awaited Pakistan Democratic Movement (PDM) rally of the joint opposition in Lahore.
While the opposition claimed it was attended by hundreds of thousands of people, the government and social media users disagreed, advising the opposition leader to “fire her graphic designer”.
In spite of calls for mass resignations and long march towards Islamabad by the Pakistan Democratic Movement, Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) leader Muhammad Zubair has said that his party will take part in the by-polls to be held in February.
Speaking in a TV show, Zubair said the party has also decided to take part in the Senate polls — a U-turn on the party’s earlier policy of mass resignations. He further said the decision to march on Islamabad will be taken in the light of the by-polls.
فروری میں استعفوں کی دھمکی بھی اور فروری میں ہی بائی الیکشن لڑنے کے دعوے بھی۔ اپوزیشن کی کوئی حکمت عملی نہیں ہے یا کنفیوژن کا شکار ہے؟
It may be noted here that the PML-N has already hinted at a delay in the long march due to the “cold weather”. Its Punjab president Rana Sanaullah said that the much-hyped march will be held in March, instead of Jan or Feb, when the weather will be favourable.
Separately, the National Assembly speaker has decided to accept the resignations of two PML-N lawmakers, Muhammad Sajjad Awan and Murtaza Javed, prompting protests from the said lawmakers.
According to Awan and Javed, the resignations — dated Dec 14 and written on their official letterhead — were not sent to Speaker Asad Qaiser.
These resignations were sent to the party leadership and it would be their decision if they wanted to forward these letters to the speaker, the lawmakers said, adding that the speaker has no authority to “verify” their resignation letters at this point.
On the other hand, the NA Secretariat said that these resignations would be accepted automatically if the lawmakers failed to appear before the speaker within a week.
Earlier this month, Lahore’s Khokhar brothers of PML-N handed over their resignations from respective assemblies to the party leadership.
MNA Malik Afzal Khokar and MPA Saiful Malook Khokhar had submitted their letters amid talks of mass resignations by opposition lawmakers in a protest against the government.
Actor Humayun Saeed has extended love and sweet birthday wishes to his wife Samina on her birthday. The actor took to Instagram and wrote, “Happy Birthday Samina”
He further thanked his wife for supporting him in every situation. “Thank you for being there through thick and thin. I wouldn’t be the man I am today without you. Thank you for making every day better than the last,” he wrote.
He added: “May we have many many more years of health, success and happiness together”
“You complete me and for that I love you,” Humayun concluded.
Humayun Saeed and his wife Samina both are producers. Samina is best known for producing drama serials, such as Kuch Pyar Ka Pagalpan, Kaash Main Teri Beti Na Hoti, Akbari Asghari, Sadqay Tumhare and Mann Mayal.
