Caretaker Chief Minister of Punjab, Mohsin Naqvi, has inaugurated an online learning driving license app.
The inauguration ceremony of the online learning driving license app was held at the Chief Minister Office in Lahore, with Information Minister Amir Mir and Inspector General of Punjab Police Usman Anwar present at the event.
Chairman Punjab Information Technology Board Faisal Yusuf and related officials were also present in the ceremony.
Exciting update! To ease the process of obtaining a learner’s license, we’ve gone digital! Now you can apply online through Punjab Police app, and the service is also available at 737 police stations and all Khidmat Marakiz across Punjab. #LicenseDrive#CMPunjab#GovtOfPunjabpic.twitter.com/fqugw8zLjm
Speaking at the ceremony, Chief Minister Naqvi said that learning license facility is being provided at patrol posts, service centers and police stations. Citizens will be able to benefit from the facility of online learning license while sitting at home. Learner license facility has also been started at the front desk of police stations.
At age 19, Hamna Zafar knew she would lose her family unless she agreed to an arranged marriage with her cousin in Pakistan. However, the dutiful daughter rebelled and opted to escape to a future in America. She is now serving in the US Air Force.
Recounting her journey to PEOPLE, Hamna says, “I always thought about my parents. I always thought about my family. I always thought about my sisters, but that night I thought about me.”
As a child, Hamna Zafar says, her parents didn’t mind her getting an education but insisted that she would eventually settle down as a wife and mother with a husband chosen by them.
“I was just expecting my family to kind of get used to the culture in the United States,” she says. “Growing up, they never really mentioned arranged marriage.”
That all changed when the college freshman went to visit Pakistan for a family trip in 2019, only to discover she was there for her engagement. On her return to the U.S., Hamna tried to reason with her mom.
“My parents are very traditional and never adapted to American culture,” Hamna says. “That’s why they took me to Pakistan to get me engaged.” When her parents learned of her plan to join the military to escape her fate, Hamna panicked.
“I was completely dependent on them,” Hamna says. “But I knew I had to leave.”
Her friend’s family sheltered her and they have been with her to date.
She knew that by taking that step, she would lose her extended family in Pakistan and that her parents would never forgive her — and deny her contact with her two beloved younger sisters.
It was a route that Hamna, who grew up in Maryland in an immigrant family, never thought she would have to take. An obedient child who got good grades, Hamna — who now spends her days protecting the base as an Air Force Security Defender — says she stayed close to home, cared for her sister with autism, and planned on starting a career after college.
Hamna shares that she faced a culture shock when she started training for the Air Force.
“I didn’t have any idea of what boot camp was going to look like. I watched a few videos to give myself an image of what was going to happen,” Hamna says. “It was definitely an eye-opening experience.”
The most difficult point for her was when she graduated from basic training and wanted her family to see her and all that she had accomplished. She says she has tried to contact her family many times, but they have not responded.
“I wanted them to be proud of me for who I am and share that with them,” Hamna says. “I really wanted them to see that their daughter has so much potential in her.”
Billions of topics are searched on Google every day and at the end of every year, the search engine releases a list of the most popular searches.
Google has now released a list of the most searched topics in Pakistan during 2023.
The eight different categories disclosed include cricket matches, events/occasions, how-to, news, recipes, TV shows and movies, technology and personalities.
So, what has been searched under these categories?
Cricket games
Pakistan vs New Zealand was the most searched match in this category followed by the match between Pakistan and Afghanistan.
Pakistan versus Australia in third, then India versus New Zealand, followed by Pakistan versus Netherlands in fifth place.
Events/Occasions
Pakistan Super League is at the top of this category followed by the Cricket World Cup, Asia Cup, Indian Premier League while the Ashes is on the fifth, respectively.
Movies and TV shows
This year in Pakistan the most searched movie was surprisingly from Hollywood rather than a Pakistani or Indian movie.
Oppenheimer was the most searched followed by Shahrukh Khan’s Jawan (second) and Pathaan (third).
Hollywood film Barbie was at the fourth position while Bollywood film Tiger 3 came fifth in the category.
News
The Gaza war topped the category in news that Pakistanis searched on Google.
This was followed by Ehsaas program, Aliza Sahar, Akshay Kumar while Kajol came fifth, respectively.
Recipes
Forever-food-lovers, Pakistanis searched for samosa recipes followed by kaleji and then sheer khurma.
Recipes for namkeen gosht and tomato ketchup recipes came in fourth and fifth respectively.
Technology
The top search in this category is not surprising as it has attracted people from all over the world over the past year: ChatGPT — chatbot based on artificial intelligence (AI) technology, which was introduced in November 2022 and went global in 2023.
Lahore police has released a huge sum of Rs 100 million out of a total of 190 million allocated for the establishment of the Special Initiative Police Stations(SIPs) in the Lahore region.
To eradicate ‘thana culture’, the department has planned to introduce modern technology and smart idea-based model police stations to provide citizens quick relief and increase trust levels between the public and the police.
The Police department has announced establishing division-wise committees under the supervision of the respective SPs of the operations wing, making the sub-divisional police officers (SDPOs), station house officers (SHOs), and the muharrars their respective members. This will ensure transparency in the utilisation of the funds released by the Punjab government for the upgrade of all 84 Lahore police stations.
The project, the brainchild of Punjab Police IG Dr Usman Anwar, will involve converting all 735 police stations of the province, including 84 in Lahore, into the Special Initiative Police Stations. Caretaker setup in Punjab allocated Rs1.9 billion, including Rs190 million (19 crore) for Lahore SIPs. Out of the total allocated amount, Rs60 million (6 crore) will go to the taxes while the rest amount of Rs30 million (3 crore) will also be released in the weeks to come.
According to the scheme, Two LCDs each will be installed in the lobby (the space for the citizens) and in the offices of the SHOs. the cameras will be installed outside the bars to monitor the activities of the suspects, in the office of the SHOs, and at the front desks of the police stations. Each police station will house a control room and Qmatic system to facilitate the citizens.
Out of the total of 84 police stations, the buildings of the three police stations — Mozang, Hanjarwal and the Civil Lines — have been completed and inaugurated.
The 70 percent of the total civil work of the rest of the buildings of the police stations is near completion, the official said.
Talking to Dawn, Lahore Operations DIG Ali Nasir Rizvi suggested that the Lahore police department would submit a request to the Punjab government through the IG office to provide Rs70 million additional amount to meet expenses.
Karachi experienced the coldest night of the season so far after the temperature dropped to 13.5°C in the port city on December 8. The temperature is likely to drop further in the coming days as a new wave of cold winds will enter the country from December 15, reports Geo.
According to weather analyst Owais Haider, the minimum temperature is expected to remain at 12 to 14°C during the next ten days in Karachi. Winds blowing in from the Northeast will worsen air quality. However, there is no chance of rain in the next 10 days, while humidity levels will remain between 50 to 60 percent during the day, he said.
According to the monthly report issued by the Meteorological Department, normal to slightly above rainfall (snowfall over the high mountain) is likely to happen in most parts of the country, particularly the central parts of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, during the current month.
It said nearly normal precipitation is likely over most parts of the country particularly Sindh during January.
“In February 2024, normal to slightly above normal precipitation is expected over most parts of the country particularly the upper Punjab and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa,” the report said.
As of December 10, the Committee to Protect Journalist’s preliminary investigations documented that at least 63 journalists and media workers have been killed in Israeli attacks in Gaza since October 7.
BREAKING:
An Israeli sniper has shot and killed Journalist Mohamed Abu Samra, in Northern Gaza. his twin brother Ahmad was also killed just 2 days ago in an airstrike on their home.
Zafar Mahal, a historical monument in Delhi’s Mehrauli village, has been vandalized by unknown miscreants in India, damaging part of the jaali (lattice screen) in front of the tombs of three Mughal emperors and Bahadur Shah Zafar’s empty tomb.
The incident was reported by Sunit Arora, a journalist, who visited the site. He was informed by the guard that the vandalism took place eight days ago, and no action has been taken by the authorities so far.
Reporting vandalism at Zafar Mahal in Delhi’s Mehrauli village. The guard informed me that 8 days ago, vandals destroyed part of the jaali (circled area in older pic) in front of the tombs of three Mughal emperors and Bahadur Shah II’s empty tomb.@aarvee1970@SamDalrymple123pic.twitter.com/e42dY42COb
Zafar Mahal is an ASI (Archaeological Survey of India) protected monument and is one of the last remnants of the architectural legacy of the Mughals in India. The palace is associated with the festival of Sair-e-Gul Faroshan, initiated by Bahadur Shah Zafar, to honour the Sufi saint Khwaja Qutubuddin Bakhtiar Kaki, whose dargah is also located nearby.
However, Zafar Mahal is in a state of neglect, with minimal maintenance and frequent vandalism. The jaali, which is now spoilt, was a fine example of the Pachin Kari (inlay work) technique.
Indian tombs of Mughal emperors, including Akbar Shah II, Shah Alam II, and Mirza Fakhruddin, also stand in a deteriorated condition inside the Mehrauli Archaeological Park.
Art historian William Dalrymple criticised the ASI for its neglect.
How the Archaeological Survey of India neglects the monuments in its care…
Zafar Mahal 2000 vs Zafar Mahal 2020
The last great Mughal Palace is allowed to rot and be encroached upon and no one does anything… pic.twitter.com/T0ETj4dhuX
Twitter user Tamjeed Ahmed said that, “ASI earlier said they will restore Zafar Mahal in October but they never did!”
ASI earlier said they will restore Zafar Mahal in October but they never did! This is so so sad! Legal action should be taken against ASI for this negligence. They have let the palace to ruin for years! This needs to stop.
Another user pointed out that “unfortunately, far too many Indian visitors are extremely disrespectful of our ancient monuments”.
Unfortunately, far too many Indian visitors are extremely disrespectful of our ancient monuments. Every time I visit any of them, I see people trying to scribble something on wall, etc, and we now also have right-wing thugs acting out.
The Sindh government has announced that it will allocate a place for women to pray in all mosques in the province.
A meeting was held under the chairmanship of Provincial Minister of Law and Awqaf, Umar Soomro, in which he asserted that a separate place should be allocated for women in 77 mosques.
He has asked that the process of data collection of registered and unregistered mosques and madrassas should be speeded up.
He also said that the Awqaf Department should initiate a dialogue with religious affairs and all stakeholders, further suggesting that technical skill programs and IT courses should also be introduced in madrassas in consultation with religious scholars.
As per the briefing, 8,903 madrassas have been registered across Sindh while registration of more mosques and madrassas is underway.
The deportation of illegally residing Afghans from across the country continues with another 2,473 Afghan citizens returning to Afghanistan yesterday alone.
This included 232 families travelling in around 126 vehicles. Whereas on December 7, 2,473 Afghans were sent back, including 825 men, 523 women and 1,125 children.
Samaa News reports an additional figure of 2,055 Afghan citizens who have returned among whom were 426 women and 1,045 children.
Yesterday, 2055 citizens bid farewell, comprising 584 men, 426 women, and 1045 children. Total count of repatriated individuals now stands at 418,980.#SamaaTV#Afghanspic.twitter.com/6zpEZFwwod
Anadolu Agency reports that over 460,000 undocumented Afghan refugees left Pakistan last month while according to the latest UN figures, 1.3 million Afghans are registered refugees and 880,000 have legal permission to stay in Pakistan.
Roshan Bibi, a 28-year-old woman from Ghazar, saved her husband and children in a firing incident on a bus in Chilas.
On December 2, when terrorists fired at a bus in Chilas, Roshan Bibi laid her one-and-a-half-year-old son, four-year-old daughter and husband on the floor of the bus and she herself lied down on top of them to protect them. Six shots were fired.
Roshan Bibi along with her husband Syed Ahmad Shah and two children were travelling to Karachi at the time.
In the tragic incident of firing on the bus, nine people were killed and 26 people were injured.
Roshan Bibi was injured and shifted to Gilgit, where three bullets were removed from her body during an operation while three are still reportedly in her body, which are yet to be removed.
Roshan Bibi has been transferred to a private hospital in Karachi.
