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Author: News Desk

  • ECP finds ‘serious discrepancies’ in Hammad Azhar’s assets: report

    ECP finds ‘serious discrepancies’ in Hammad Azhar’s assets: report

    The Election Commission of Pakistan is likely to take action against Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) leader and federal minister Hammad Azhar over “some serious discrepancies observed during scrutiny of [his declared] assets”.

    The News reported that the minister did not declare his “shares in a flour mill and few other businesses in one of his declarations submitted to the ECP”.

    “After he became MNA in 2018 and later became a member of the cabinet, the assets declared by him and his spouse were different from those he had declared earlier” while filing his nomination paper, the report said, adding that this prompted ECP to launch the scrutiny some two years back.

    “Our [ECP’s] team found an apparent mis-declaration, serious discrepancies and deficiencies in Hammad’s declarations, and he failed to explain his position before the electoral body scrutinising his and his wife’s assets and liabilities,” the report quoted an ECP official.

    Meanwhile, Hammad Azhar has refuted the content of the report and said that it “is compiled without reading my reply to ECP which easily answered all queries in May 2019”.

    He said the reporter ignored his written filed in the election commission in response to the scrutiny.

    About his response in 2019, the ECP official quoted by The News said that it was “unsatisfactory”.

  • ‘Ertuğrul’ star Engin Altan Düzyatan arrives in Pakistan for a short visit

    ‘Ertuğrul’ star Engin Altan Düzyatan arrives in Pakistan for a short visit

    Engin Altan Düzyatan, who is popularly referred to as Ertuğrul after the role he plays in the hit Turkish series Diriliş: Ertuğrul arrived in Lahore on Thursday for a short visit.

    According to details, the actor is in Pakistan “at the invitation of a private business company”.

    https://twitter.com/PakTurkey/status/1336889821713870848?s=20

    Turkey’s Anadolu Agency reported that Engin will sign an agreement with Lahore-based Chaudhary group of industries as a brand ambassador.

    However, due to a surge in coronavirus cases in the country, he may not be able to meet his fans.

    Often described as the Turkish Game of Thrones, Diriliş: Ertuğrul is being aired on the recommendation of Prime Minister Imran Khan. Set in 13th century Anatolia and based on the struggle of Ertuğrul Gazi, father of Osman I – the founder of the Ottoman dynasty, Diriliş: Ertuğrul has been trending in the country ever since its first episode aired on the first of Ramzan.

    In an exclusive interview with The Current, Senator Faisal Javed Khan had revealed that Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan had gifted the drama series to Pakistan as a goodwill gesture.

    In August, the Turkish actor met three terminally ill Pakistani children via video link. The event was arranged by the Make-A-Wish Foundation in Pakistan’s port city of Karachi and was attended by the Turkish consul general and prominent Pakistani actors including Humayun Saeed and Ayesha Omar.

    Earlier in September, Cavit Çetin Güner, who plays Dogan Alp the series also visited Pakistan and spent a few days in Islamabad.

  • FBR sees rise in income tax collection

    FBR sees rise in income tax collection

    The Federal Board of Revenue (FBR) has received a record number of returns this year, along with the highest ever amount of income tax at the time of filing.

    According to a statement issued by the FBR on Wednesday, “A total of nearly 1.8 million returns have been filed together with an amount of about Rs22 billion. Last year, around this time, 1.73 million returns were filed while about Rs13.5 billion were deposited as income tax.”

    FBR said it had opted not to extend the last date to file income tax returns beyond December 8, 2020 to restore the credibility and predictability of the final date and promote tax discipline, which worked. However, to ensure that no hardship was faced by taxpayers, a number of special measures were adopted.

    These included liberal acceptance of requests for extension in filing date as available under the law; provision to file requests manually besides the online facility; enabling tax practitioners/advisors to file a single request for multiple clients; and enabling the chief commissioners to set up special desks for collection of manual request and sorting their jurisdiction at their level.

    The above measures have encouraged a large number of taxpayers to file extension requests, the statement read. It is estimated that at least 300,000 taxpayers have made use of this facility, thus taking the number of potential returns to 2.1 million, which is 21pc higher compared to last year until this date.

    It is further clarified that the process of filing is continuing unabated. A comparison with the returns of last year at the close of the deadline, which was 30 June 2020, would be meaningful when the number of additional returns to be filed until 30 June 2021 is available.

    The FBR commended the determination of taxpayers, and the support it received from members of tax bars from all over the country, who have made such record setting returns and income tax payments possible. The results establish that the decision not to allow general extension in the last date, would go a long way toward re-establishing much needed trust and credibility of the tax system.

  • Marvi Sirmed, Ertuğrul, coronavirus: Here’s what Pakistanis have been searching for in 2020

    Marvi Sirmed, Ertuğrul, coronavirus: Here’s what Pakistanis have been searching for in 2020

    To say that 2020 has been a rollercoaster would be an understatement. Though the coronavirus pandemic pretty much defined 2020, there were lots of other things that kept Pakistanis engaged throughout the year. Some that we might even have forgotten.

    Lucky for us, Google released its annual ‘Year in Search‘ list on Wednesday, giving us a quick roundup of the year and reminding us of our obsessions which included Diriliş: Ertuğrul, Meray Paas Tum Ho, Money Heist, Sarah Khan and Falak Shabbir’s wedding and Pakistan vs England series besides of course corona.

    Meanwhile, check out the complete lists here:

    Top Search

    1. Pakistan vs England
    2. Coronavirus
    3. Zimbabwe vs Pakistan
    4. Google Classroom
    5. US Election 2020
    6. PSL 2020
    7. India vs New Zealand
    8. England vs Australia
    9. England vs West Indies
    10. Worldometers

    People

    1. Marvi Sarmad
    2. Uzma Khan
    3. Joe Biden
    4. Alizeh Shah
    5. Hareem Shah
    6. Minahil Malik
    7. Falak Shabir
    8. Asim Azhar
    9. Esra Bilgiç
    10. Sarah Khan

    Events/Occasions

    1. US elections
    2. Leap day
    3. International women’s day
    4. Australia fire
    5. Gilgit Baltistan election 2020 result
    6. Beirut blast
    7. Motorway incident
    8. Kabaddi world cup 2020
    9. Under 19 world cup
    10. Khabib vs Gaethje

    Movies & TV

    1. Ertuğrul
    2. Mere Paas Tum Ho
    3. Money Heist
    4. Bigg Boss 14
    5. Mirzapur Season 2
    6. Deewangi
    7. Mera Dil Mera Dushman
    8. Kuruluş: Osman
    9. Ehd-e-Wafa
    10. Joker

    Gadgets

    1. Huawei Y9a
    2. Infinix Note 7
    3. Vivo V20
    4. iPhone 12
    5. Infinix Hot 9
    6. OPPO F17 Pro
    7. Vivo S1
    8. Vivo Y20
    9. Vivo Y51
    10. Huawei Y6p

    According to Google, these lists are based on search terms that had the highest spike this year as compared to the previous year (2019).

  • PDM is ‘foreign-funded’ movement, says govt

    PDM is ‘foreign-funded’ movement, says govt

    As the opposition-led movement to oust the Imran government gains momentum, Human Rights Minister and Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf senior leader Shireen Mazari has alleged that the Pakistan Democratic Movement (PDM), a joint opposition alliance, is receiving foreign funding.

    In an interview with Dawn News, the federal minister claimed that a lot of people who are part of the PDM have received “a lot of foreign funds”. She, however, couldn’t provide any proof.

    “If we get the evidence […] but when we receive hardcore evidence, then it will become the responsibility of the government to take action,” she said, adding that “let’s see how things unfold”.

    According to Mazari, it had come to her knowledge that that evidence was now surfacing regarding funding for the opposition alliance from abroad.

    “[I have] heard that a lot of evidence has been found that funding, encouragement is being sent. You know Pakistan has dissident groups abroad. Every country has them, dissident groups from Pakistan are also abroad, the way they are living, after all they are receiving money from somewhere.”

    A similar claim was made by the prime minister of Pakistan a couple of days, when he told a delegation of senior journalists that certain countries were supporting the PDM in its bid to oust his government, Daily Pakistan reported.

    It may be noted here that PTI is also case pertaining to foreign funding in the Election Commission of Pakistan. The ECP officials will meet on Dec 31 to discuss the audit of the PTI after multiple delayed hearings.

    Meanwhile, PDM Chief Maulana Fazlur Rehman, flanked by PPP Chairman Bilawal Bhutto Zardari and PML-N Vice President Maryam Nawaz, addressed a press conference on Wednesday. He had said that the rally at Minar-e-Pakistan on December 13 will be held “at all costs”.

  • ‘A Year To Remember’: Adnan Siddiqui on why he ‘admires 2020’

    ‘A Year To Remember’: Adnan Siddiqui on why he ‘admires 2020’

    2020 has been quite the year, for all of us and none of us would like to relive it. But Adnan Siddiqui, who had a great year as far as his acting projects are concerned (Meray Paas Tum Ho, Ye Dil Mera) says that he admires 2020, calling it ‘A Year To Remember’.

    “In three weeks from now, 2020 will be behind us,” wrote the actor on Instagram. “A most extraordinary year. When we rang it in, I don’t think anyone had even a vague idea that three months into it and our lives, as we knew it, would come to a halt. A thriving world came to an abrupt standstill and we are still waiting for normalcy to return. No wonder, our most common refrain since March 2020 is, ‘when will life be back to old normal’.”

    He then went on to share why he admires 2020 so much.

    “I often get asked why I admire 2020 so much when it caused a life-altering crisis across the globe. I have always felt that in every adversity lies an opportunity. We only need to discover that. The amount of free time I had on my hands, thanks to the lockdown, was God sent. I loved the languid pace at which life was moving all those months. And as Mac Davis crooned, I stopped and smelled the roses,” the actor added.

    Sharing about time spent with his kids, Adnan wrote: “My kids were the happiest to have me around 24 hours and I would like to imagine myself as a more patient and wiser parent while dealing with the millennials. I finished a book that was mocking me for years for having left it in between. Caught up on sleep, wrote poetry.”

    Read more – Quarantine turns Adnan Siddiqui into Wolverine

    “But most of all, 2020 enlightened me to a new perspective of life–to accept it in a larger scheme of things. I learnt that man, even if he fancies himself as omnipotent, can never conquer nature.”

    “2020 also taught me to slow down a bit, to hold my loved ones closer, to pray a little longer, and never to take life for granted,” concluded Adnan.

  • British PM mocked for confusing farmers protest with India-Pakistan conflict

    British PM mocked for confusing farmers protest with India-Pakistan conflict

    British Prime Minister Boris Johnson was labelled “absolutely clueless” after a parliamentary faux pas on Wednesday when seemed to confuse ongoing farmers’ protest in India with a dispute between India and Pakistan.

    British Sikh Labour MP Tanmanjeet Singh Dhesi addressed Johnson during the weekly Prime Minister’s Questions (PMQs) session about the protests in India, prompting Johnson to give an off-the-mark response.

    “Many constituents, especially those emanating from Punjab and other parts of India, and I were horrified to see footage of water cannons, teargas and brute force being used against peacefully protesting farmers. However, it was heart-warming to see those very farmers feeding those forces who had been ordered to beat or suppress them. What indomitable spirit and it takes a special kind of people to do that,” the opposition lawmaker said.

    “So, will the Prime Minister (Johnson) convey to the Indian Prime Minister (Narendra Modi) our heartfelt anxieties, our hopes for a speedy resolution to the current deadlock and does he agree that everyone has a fundamental right to peaceful protest,” he questioned Johnson.

    Johnson, in his brief response, went on to address a completely unrelated matter instead.

    “Our view is that of course, we have serious concerns about what is happening between India and Pakistan but these are pre-eminently matters for those two governments to settle and I know that he (Modi) appreciates that point”, said Johnson.

    Dhesi, who looked visibly perplexed, was quick to take to social media as he posted the exchange on Twitter, adding: “But it might help if our PM actually knew what he was talking about!”

    Shortly after his comments, Twitter users mocked him for his confusing statement with British member of Parliament Afzal Khan calling it “a new low even for Boris Johnson”.

    “The issue has nothing to do with India and Pakistan. Incredible,” Khan said.

    https://twitter.com/Afzal4Gorton/status/1336667817131859968

    Another parliamentarian Zahra Sultana pointed out that Johnson seemed to confuse the farmers protest with the international conflict between India and Pakistan over the disputed region of Kashmir.

    The UK government has so far refused to be drawn into the ongoing protests in India, with the Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office (FCDO) saying the matter of handling protests was an internal one.

    The police handling of protests is a matter for the government of India, an FCDO spokesperson said last week, following a letter initiated by Dhesi and signed by 35 other UK MPs over the issue.

    Meanwhile, Canada has already denounced the use of force against the protesting farmers.

    Thousands of farmers from Punjab, Haryana and several other states have been protesting on various borders of Delhi since November 26, seeking repeal of the three farm laws enacted in September.

    Dubbing these laws as “anti-farmer”, these farmers say that the newly enacted legislation would pave the way for the dismantling of the minimum support price system, leaving them at the “mercy” of big corporations. However, the government has claimed that the new laws will bring farmers better opportunities and usher in new technologies in agriculture. 

  • Pornhub bans downloads after expose alleges videos of abuse

    Pornhub bans downloads after expose alleges videos of abuse

    Pornography website Pornhub has outlined new measures against illegal content on its platform after the New York Times reported finding videos depicting child sex abuse and rape on the site.

    The paper asserted that among the 6.8 million new videos posted on the site each year, a majority “probably involve consenting adults, but many depict child abuse and non-consensual violence.”

    Pornhub, the Times said, also lets users download videos directly from its site, which allows anyone to repost clips repeatedly and without limit.

    “Today, we are taking major steps to further protect our community,” said a statement on Pornhub. “Going forward, we will only allow properly identified users to upload content. We have banned downloads.”

    Only content partners and people who earn ad revenue from their videos will be able to upload videos to the site.

    “In the new year, we will implement a verification process so that any user can upload content upon successful completion of identification protocol,” the statement read.

    Paid downloads remain possible, says the company, adding that it has also strengthened its moderation process.

    On Monday officials at MasterCard and Visa launched a probe into their links with the site, warning that they would cut ties with the parent company, MindGeek if it turns out that the site is not following the law. Meanwhile, PayPal had stopped processing payments to Pornhub last year.

    Pornhub told AFP in a statement that it has “no tolerance” for content that shows sexual abuse of children.

    Pakistan reportedly tops the list of most porn-searching countries.

  • Shahveer Jafry gets engaged

    Shahveer Jafry gets engaged

    Shahveer Jafry has put a ring on it.

    The YouTuber got engaged to Ayesha Beig in Islamabad an lowkey affair with his closest celebrity friends including Noor Zafar Khan and Sham Idrees present.

    Soon after pictures from the engagement began to circulate on social media, Shahveer made an official announcement. Sharing pictures of his engagement on social media, Shahveer wrote: “We are engaged!”

    The couple matched their outfits for the occasion. While Shahveer wore a peach suit, his bride Amna sparkled in a silver dress with a peach dupatta.

    Meanwhile, Shahveer’s friends expressed their happiness over his engagement.

    “Congratulations meri jaan,” commented Zaid Ali, while Sham welcomed him “to this side of the club”. Sham’s wife Froggy remarked: “Mashaa’Allah. After 8 long years of knowing you, there came Ayesha to put up with you.”

  • South Africa to make historic Pakistan tour in January after 14 years

    South Africa to make historic Pakistan tour in January after 14 years

    South Africa will tour Pakistan next month for the first time in 14 years to play two tests and three Twenty20 Internationals, officials confirmed on Wednesday.

    The five-day matches will be staged in Karachi from January 26-30 and in Rawalpindi from February 4-8, T20 fixtures will be played in Lahore from 11th February to 14th of February.

    International cricket has returned to Pakistan in the past 15 months following a militant attack on the Sri Lanka team bus in Lahore in 2009 that killed six policemen and two civilians.

    “It’s pleasing to see so many countries making a return to Pakistan — a proud, cricket-loving nation,” South Africa’s director of cricket, Graeme Smith, said in a statement.

    “I would like to thank the Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) for the hospitality and transparency they showed our security contingent when they travelled over there a few weeks ago,” he said.

    He added: “The report on their findings and recommendations gives us confidence as an organisation that all of our team’s security, playing and accommodation needs will be met, and that the wellbeing of the team will be the top priority.”

    The Cricket board of South Africa (CSA) also confirmed the tour on Twitter.

    Pakistan captain Babar Azam said that aside from the thrill of playing at home, the tour will also be a chance for his side to test their progress across the two formats.

    “I am delighted that South Africa have confirmed their tour to Pakistan and look forward to captaining my country for the first time in a home Test,” said Azam in a statement.

    “Looking at the calendar of international cricket in 2021, I am pleased we are playing more against the sides which are ranked above us,” he said. “This is critical to not only our learning and development, but also an opportunity to improve our rankings across all formats.”