Cluster toy bombs, which are being traced back to India, have been recovered from near the Line of Control (LoC) in Neelum Valley, ARY News reported Saturday.
According to reports, the toy bombs were placed in the peripheries of Azad Jammu and Kashmir (AJK), near the Working Boundary (WB) of the two countries. WB is the line where Indian occupied Kashmir (IoK) meets Pakistan’s border.
The bombs, reports said, have so far killed three, including a four-year-old child, besides injuring 11 others.
Cluster bombs have been banned under the Geneva Convention, which India is a signatory of.
Shaped like harmless toys, they can be devastating after detonation — exploding into millions of razor-sharp blades that pierce through whatever stands within its range.
Prime Minister Imran Khan has directed all ministries to finalise special arrangements to facilitate handicapped and old persons.
According to media reports, the Ministry of Communications has already begun complying with PM’s instructions and has sent letters to National Highways Authority (NHA) officials, transport companies and IG motorways to start executing the PM orders.
Under the directives, pertaining authorities are to provide special ease to all handicapped and aged passengers at rest houses situated on all highways and motorways across Pakistan. Construction of ramps in all washrooms and resting areas is mandatory along with the provision of wheelchairs at specific locations.
Special seats are also to be reserved for them in transport vehicles.
People with physical impairments and the elderly have often suffered at public places due to lack of such facilities. It is warming to see the government cater to their needs and facilitate them.
Pakpattan district’s first woman Station House Officer (SHO), Kulsoom Fatima, has solved 200 rape and sexual abuse cases within just two months of her appointment, BBC Urdu reported.
In an interview to BBC, she said that the incidents of sexual abuse of minor girls made her angry, but she was not able to do anything at that time.
BBC News اردو – پاکپتن کی خاتون تھانہ انچارج: 200 ریپ مقدمات کی تحقیقات کرنے والی کلثوم فاطمہ https://t.co/05SXxqQPlh
— Punjab Police Official (@OfficialDPRPP) August 2, 2019
“I got the opportunity. I was appointed as a sub-inspector in Punjab Police after passing the competitive exams,” Fatima said, adding that she had earlier hoped to be in the position one day so she could do something for the little survivours.
The cop said that she was handed over cases related to women and minor girls — a task she always wanted.
Pakpattan District Police Officer (DPO) Ibadat Nisar had appointed Fatima as SHO at Model Police Station Daloryam. He said that the appointment of women officers in Pakpattan has helped in dispensing justice to people.
The Sri Lankan circket team is likely to visit Pakistan in October to play a two-match test series, Cricket Pakistan has reported.
According to reports, Sri Lanka Cricket (SLC) has confirmed the dates of their security delegation’s arrival in Pakistan on a three-day visit. The delegation will begin its evaluation with a trip to Karachi, Lahore and Islamabad on August 7, 8 and 9, respectively.
It will assess the security situation in the country ahead of providing its recommendations to the SLC.
They will visit the stadiums and hotels in the three major cities and will be briefed by local security officials as well. SLC, on the basis of those recommendations, will decide whether to tour Pakistan or not.
“I’m confident that the delegation will be satisfied with the security arrangements in Pakistan and hopefully we will soon see red-ball cricket on home soil,” reports quoted Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) Chairman Ehsan Mani as saying.
Pakistan, since the unfortunate attack on the Sri Lankan cricket team in March 2009, has not hosted any test series.
Heavy monsoon rains across Pakistan have caused flash floods in different parts of the country. One of the cities worst affected by the continuous downpour is the port city of Karachi. The provincial capital is facing terrible challenges with submerged roads, water inside houses, no electricity and overflow of sewage. It is pertinent to mention that Karachi is one of the most polluted cities in the country.
Ali Haider Zaidi
Keeping this in mind, Federal Minister for Maritime Affairs Ali Haider Zaidi announced that the government is planning to launch a campaign, Let’s Clean Karachi to rid the city of its garbage in the next two weeks.
Inshallah with the help of the citizens of this great city, we will clean up Karachi from trash in the next 2 weeks. #LetsCleanKHI
Zaidi’s decision gave some much-needed relief to the residents who had been continuously voicing their concerns and appealing to the government to help them. Following this, several notable personalities took to social media to pledge their support for Zaidi’s initiative.
You revived the issue of dumping untreated sewage in sea recently and now you have taken up #letscleankarachi, demonstrates you care about this city and our country and specially the enviroment . I will go to any extent to support you in this cause 👍 https://t.co/22WWqt6oOg
@AliHZaidiPTI you made the call #LetsCleanKHI and the people have responded. From most of the entertainment/music industry to the great citizens of Karachi. Everyone is ready to back you on this. Let’s get this done.
This is a few weeks old picture of a meeting organised by @ShehzadRoy in Karachi where Jamil Yousaf,Shahid Abdullah and Admiral Rtd Arif Hussaini told me that citizens of Karachi have the potential to clean the city they just need unity and commitment #LetsCleanKHIpic.twitter.com/w8tJ5Wurqi
1/2 Thank you @AliHZaidiPTI. You have our full support. Everyone let’s make this #LetsCleanKHI trend and tag everyone who you think has been responsible for this mess! It’s time to reclaim the beautiful city of Karachi and let no one take it for granted. https://t.co/clSmqwubvz
The business community of the city also sent letters of support to the minister and vowed to help him.
Special thanks to the Karachi Chamber of Commerce & Industry. It will be great help now that KCCI is involved as well! #LetsCleanKHIpic.twitter.com/tiWkpS17Zy
Speaking to the media, the minister remarked that Karachi was badly ignored by the Pakistan Peoples Party’s (PPP) government. He assured that the cleanliness drive would be completed before August 14 with the joint efforts of its citizens. The drive will begin on Sunday. Zaidi also directed municipal representatives and other relevant departments to speed up their work.
Foreign cricketers have refused to play the fifth season of the Habib Bank Limited (HBL) Pakistan Super League (PSL) scheduled to be entirely held in Pakistan next year, Cricket Pakistan reported Friday.
Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) had earlier said that the fifth edition of the PSL will entirely be played in the country and is expected to take place from February 20 to March 22.
Speaking to a private media outlet, Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) chairman Ehsan Mani insisted that there are no concerns regarding hosting the entire HBL PSL in Pakistan.
“I took the approval of PCB’s patron-in-chief regarding holding the tournament in Pakistan, after consulting all franchise owners,” Mani said, adding that he had invited team owners for a meeting next week on Monday in Lahore, where the matter would be discussed again.
“Till now, no franchise has shown any reservations, so there is no possibility of shifting the matches anywhere else,” he added.
However, according to reports, franchises want to hold at least half of the PSL 5 matches in the United Arab Emirates (UAE), as they feel it is currently not viable to play the entire season in the country.
They are of the view that it will be difficult to convince foreign players to stay in Pakistan for a longer period of time.
Veteran actor Firdous Jamal’s comments on Mahira Khan have frankly been blown quite out of proportion.
After the clip in which Firdous said Mahira that she is too old to be a heroine went viral, Mahira’s fans and colleagues went into overdrive to defend the actor and call out Firdous Sahab for his outdated and sexist comments. The matter became so controversial that Mahira had to step in and settle the issue. In a note shared on her Instagram, Mahira had said that she is grateful to all her seniors and that “in a world full of hate, let’s choose to love. Let’s be tolerant of other people’s opinions.”
While Mahira continued to share her feelings on the issue, in various interviews that followed, the matter appeared to have more or less settled down. But, kyunkay Pakistan hai, twist toh aana hota hai.
Yesterday, the CEO of MD Productions which comes under the HUM Films umbrella, Momina Duraid, took to social media to share her thoughts on the matter. It is pertinent to mention here that Momina is producing Mahira’s upcoming film Superstar and the two have worked on several projects in the past including Bin Roye.
Momina began her note by praising Mahira for being “a woman with immense integrity, self-control, and solid principles.” She then went on to say that she is ashamed that Firdous Sahab is part of “our fraternity” and that his comments were “disrespectful and regressive” before announcing that her company “would not work with him again in any capacity.”
Momina’s comments blew up a whole new controversy with some members of the film fraternity coming defending Jamal Sahab and calling out Momina for being extreme. The hashtag #SupportFirdousJamal also began to trend on Twitter soon after.
my question is this what freedom of speech gets you ?! Getting someone’s bread and butter cancelled ?? If it does … then I want every single bastard out there bashing any human being on the internet get cancelled the same way !! Coz you can’t ! 🙂 Enough is enough ! pic.twitter.com/kUz6GA7xpU
Not reacting on issues like sexual harassment or domestic violence and then banning a veteran actor for stating his opinion is alarming.I think by doing this they have put Mahira in a very embarrassing situation.@humnewspakistan@TheMahiraKhan
Hamza Ali Abbasi asked everyone to be responsible.
Aik zamana tha mera mazaak urta tha ke harr waqt status lagata hai, ab almost saare media ke log status laga ker vocal ho gaye hain jo musbat cheez hai. Bass aik guzarish hai (jo meine bhee ghaltiyon ke baad seekha) ke vocal hoon, status lagaayein, lekin thori zimadaari ke saath!
Firdous’ son Hamza Firdous who was part of a few Hum TV productions, most notably O Rangreza, also shared a video of himself in which said that he is ashamed that he was part of their dramas. He said that Firdous is a self-made man and he doesn’t need to stoop down to gain some fame.
Neighbouring India has been left divided ever since a Hindu man refused to accept his order from a Muslim food delivery guy.
“Just cancelled an order on @ZomatoIN. They allocated a non-Hindu rider for my food they said they can’t change rider and can’t refund on cancellation [sic],” Amit Shukla of Madhya Pradesh’s Jabalpur city tweeted Tuesday.
Zomato is an Indian restaurant search and discovery service that operates in 24 countries. It provides information and reviews of restaurants as well as images of menus where the restaurant does not have its own website and also online delivery.
Shukla, through the app’s customer support, requested another rider and when asked what was wrong, he replied, “We have Shravan [month of fasting] and I don’t need a delivery from a Muslim fellow.”
The company refused to change the rider on the basis of religion and the customer care executive’s response was widely shared over social media.
“Food doesn’t have a religion. It is a religion,” Zomato tweeted.
The company’s founder, Deepinder Goyal, also tweeted:
We are proud of the idea of India – and the diversity of our esteemed customers and partners. We aren’t sorry to lose any business that comes in the way of our values. 🇮🇳 https://t.co/cgSIW2ow9B
“We are proud of the idea of India — and the diversity of our esteemed customers and partners. We aren’t sorry to lose any business that comes in the way of our values,” he wrote.
While Zomato’s stand against religious intolerance won many hearts, some stood up in Shukla’s support.
Food has a religion. You are wrong. Halal and Jhatka. Now most of butchers are muslims they only do 'jibah' but if i ask them to go for Jhatka they say its against their religion. Don't be biased.
Unity in diversity is the culture of India. And we as it's citizens are the ones who need to protect it.#Zomato episode proves, barring a few, we are all one. We are Indians first. So proud of being an Indian.
Inter-Services Public Relations (ISPR) Director General Major General Asif Ghafoor has rubbished Senator Mir Hasil Bizenjo’s remarks that the Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI) chief was “involved in manipulating the results” of the no-confidence motion against the Senate chairman.
The National Party president and losing candidate for Senate chairman slot had on Thursday accused the country’s premier spy agency of hijacking the Senate vote by indulging in horse-trading.
“Remarks by Senator Mir Hasil Bizenjo implicating head of national premier institution are unfounded,” the military spokesperson tweeted Thursday night.
Remarks by Senator Mir Hasil Bizenjo implicating head of national premier institution are unfounded. The tendency to bring entire democratic process into disrepute for petty political gains doesn’t serve democracy.
“The tendency to bring [the] entire democratic process into disrepute for petty political gains doesn’t serve democracy,” he added.
The response came as Bizenjo’s reply to a journalist’s query, following his shocking defeat in the upper house, started doing rounds over the internet.
“[ISI DG] General Faiz’s people are behind this,” he was heard as saying when asked to name those responsible for the defeat.
Earlier in the day, Senate Chairman Sadiq Sanjrani survived a no-confidence resolution tabled against him by the joint opposition.
The opposition’s no-trust motion against Sanjrani failed to receive the 53 votes required for his removal even though at the start of the session, 64 senators had stood up in support of the motion.
Following the secret balloting, it was revealed that the motion received only 50 votes in its favour.
With Prime Minister (PM) Imran Khan approving the Rs5.15 hike in petrol price, yet another tweet from the past has come back to haunt the ruling Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI).
On Wednesday night, the premier approved an Oil and Gas Development Authority (OGRA) summary recommending an increase in per litre prices of all petroleum products.
The prices of petrol, diesel, kerosene oil and light diesel were jacked up by Rs5.15, Rs5.65, Rs5.38 and Rs8.90, respectively.
With people starting to express their frustration over the development that could result in yet another inflation bomb, some took to Twitter to share a statement by the premier from back when he sat in the parliament on opposition benches.
“Petrol should be sold at Rs58 per litre, demands @ImranKhanPTI [sic],” the 2015 tweet on PTI’s official handle read.
This isn’t the first time an old tweet has come back to bite the PTI government.
“All over the world, just on an incident of railway accidents, minister resigns. This is real democracy, says Imran Khan [sic],” a tweet from August 2014 stated.
All over the world, just on an incident of railway accidents, minister resigns. This is real democracy, says Imran Khan
It had started making rounds last month after the tragic train accident in Sadiqabad, which claimed over 20 lives.
Prior to this, as PM Imran reached China amid Tehreek-e-Labbaik Pakistan’s (TLP) nationwide protests last year, a 2012 tweet of his, went viral. In the tweet, he had criticised the then premier for traveling abroad as the country “burned”.
Karachi to Gilgit Pak is burning & rulers least bothered. Instead they are travelling abroad or boasting of invisible "achievements"!
It was aimed at criticising former prime minister Yousaf Raza Gillani, who had traveled to China for the Boao Forum while violence linked to sectarian, ethnic and political tensions continued in different parts of the country.
