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Category: Lifestyle

  • Governor House wedding shoot triggers furious debate on social media

    Governor House wedding shoot triggers furious debate on social media

    Renowned journalist Saleem Safi shared a TikTok video on Tuesday on X (formerly Twitter) of a newlywed couple in wedding attire running around the Governor House for their wedding photoshoot. He criticised the KP governor for allowing such practices.

    Safi later shared the response of Governor Haji Ghulam Ali where he was defending the practice as something that has been happening for a long time. The media in-charge to KP Governor Maaz Fida issued a clarification, explaining that governor house has always been open to the public for wedding photo shoots, with the condition that they obtained prior permission. In a post shared by Saleem Safi, the screenshot of the clarification, Fida dismissed the news of any film shooting taking place in the governor house.

    He said, “Public’s governor’s public governor house is just as accessible to newly married couples as it is for anyone else”. He said that the video doing rounds on social media is of such a couple that had formally obtained permission for the photoshoot.


    Fida added that there used to be a fee for such photo shoots, which was abolished by Ghulam Ali when he became the governor. He said that a specific portion of the governor house is open for such photo shoots and anyone can obtain the facility.


    Safi counter-criticized the Governor’s statement by saying that if this is the case then would couples from lower strata of society be allowed to have their photoshoots in there.

    The interaction has divided social media where some are defending the practice while others are criticising the fact that romantic photoshoots mar the sanctity of the place.

    Some X users found this funny enough to make memes on it.

    It is important to note that renting out public properties for a nominal fee for photo shoots or events is a common practice, all across the world and in Pakistan as well. In March 2020, the then-Governor Punjab, Chaudhry Sarwar, had also approved renting out the Lahore Governor House estate for commercial activities to generate operational expenditures.

  • Minor child worker Rizwana discharged from hospital, handed over to Child Protection Bureau

    Minor child worker Rizwana discharged from hospital, handed over to Child Protection Bureau

    Rizwana, the 13-year-old minor house help assaulted by her employers, has been discharged from hospital and handed over to the Child Protection Bureau.

    Talking to the media after recovery, Rizwana claimed to be very happy, stating that everyone took good care of her; “I was not well at first, but the doctors and nurses took good care of me”, she said.

    According to the hospital administration, Rizwana has been discharged from the General Hospital and handed over to Child Protection Bureau Chairperson Sarah Ahmed.

    Rizwana, a young domestic worker beaten up by the wife of a civil judge in Islamabad, was under treatment in Lahore General Hospital since five months. Rizwana was brought to Lahore General Hospital from Sargodha with injuries on her head, face and back.

    According to the medical report, due to lack of timely treatment, Rizwana’s wounds were infected with worms, the girl had 15 injury marks on her body including her head and her internal organs were also affected.

  • Why are students in Islamabad protesting?

    Why are students in Islamabad protesting?

    A large number of university students in Islamabad protested on Tuesday demanding their universities and the Higher Education Commission (HEC) resolve their accommodation problem.

    Thousands of students were evicted from privately-run hostels after the Capital Development Authority (CDA) sealed many buildings over ‘non-conforming use’. It means that they were operating as a commercial enterprise without authorisation, reports The Express Tribune.

    The students also registered a public interest petition in Islamabad High Court (IHC) against CDA’s policy that has left around 30,000 students on the verge of eviction.

    The petition is filed under section 4(xxiii) of the Federal Universities Act and other laws stating that the universities are bound to create sufficient student accommodation on campus and also to “approve or license” hostels and lodgings existing in the city.

    However, in Islamabad, only five out of the 35 universities over the last two decades have taken any such steps. “As a result, students are compelled to reside in privately-managed student hostels located in the CDA sectors,” it informed.

    CDA issued non-conforming notices to over 70 hostels in November.

    According to the hostel owners, many students had to spend the night on the street after at least two hostels were shut down late in the evening without proper warning.

    The petition also points out that HEC has a statutory mandate to protect the interests of students including their accommodation matters, “but has so far failed to intervene in this crisis”.

    At the preliminary hearing, Justice Miangul Hassan Aurangzeb issued directions for the HEC chairman to grant a hearing to the students and redress their grievances.

  • ‘Massive dissapointment’: Malala’s failure to mention genocide in Gaza during lecture has Twitter angry

    ‘Massive dissapointment’: Malala’s failure to mention genocide in Gaza during lecture has Twitter angry

    Girls education activist Malala Yousafzai was selected to give the 21st Nelson Mandela Annual Lecture in Johannesburg. In her speech, the Noble Prize Winner spoke at length about the gender apartheid in Afghanistan against women and girls, with no mention of the genocide of Gaza where the death toll has now crossed 15,000 civilians.

    In an interview with The Associated Press, Malala urged for a ceasefire in Gaza, pointing to attention to the countless schools and homes that have been bombarded in the war, and for war criminals to be held accountable.

    Nelson Mandela was a staunch pro-Palestine supporter, who famously said during his visit to Gaza in 1999 that he “felt at home among compatriots”.

    “There is an apartheid state committing a genocide at the moment which you’ve been disappointingly silent on. If you take away anything from this trip, it should be the courage to speak up about what is happening in the here and now,” wrote a user.

    “Ironic that she mentioned apartheid, reason for Mandela’s struggle, yet not a word about Israel’s apartheid against Palestinians, brutal human rights violation and the ongoing genocide. Nothing but just a mouthpiece can’t be my inspiration anymore,” wrote another user.

    “She’s visiting South Africa, a country with apartheid history and she chooses to stay silent on an ongoing genocide. Mandela would have hated her bigotry if he was alive, his resistance was against the same mindset,” said a tweet.

    Previously Malala released a statement on October 10 grieving for the Palestinian and Israeli children who were caught in the war. Many were quick to slam the feminist activist for failing to recognise that this was a genocide where more Palestinian lives were being lost everyday.

    Many have drawn comparisons between Malala’s silence and climate change activist Greta Thunberg’s outspoken resistance against the genocide of Gaza. Greta published an op-ed for The Guardian where she criticised Israel as the death toll grows in Gaza, with more children passing away from Israeli airstrikes.

  • Green turtles fight to survive against Pakistan’s urban sprawl

    Green turtles fight to survive against Pakistan’s urban sprawl

    Against the backdrop of the mega port city of Karachi, choked with traffic and construction, four green turtles emerge from the frothy Arabian Sea seeking a spot to lay their eggs.

    Three immediately retreat to the water, put off by the glittering lights and heavy beat of a nearby beach party.

    But one trundles towards the end of the beach bank, its flippers whipping sand into the air before settling on a dry spot of sand in which to deposit 88 golf ball-sized eggs.

    Newly-hatched green turtles crawl towards the Arabian Sea, after being released by marine conservationists on Sandspit beach in Karachi. PHOTO: AFP

    Six conservationists tasked with protecting the last surviving turtle species to nest in Pakistan stand guard nearby.

    “Being human doesn’t only call for loving another human being. These animals also require the same attention and love,” said Ashfaq Ali Memon, the head of marine wildlife at Sindh province’s Wildlife Department.

    Sandspit Beach is a beloved recreation spot for the city’s 22 million residents, as well as a critical habitat for Pakistan’s endangered green turtles.

    Until the early 2000s, the beaches of Pakistan’s Arabian coast were the nesting habitat for five endangered turtle species, now only the green turtles come to shore to lay their eggs. PHOTO: AFP

    The eight-kilometre (five-mile) stretch of beach is being relentlessly encroached upon by the construction of concrete beach houses that have, metre-by-metre, eaten into the strip of sand where turtles nest.

    “Once I saw someone disturbing a turtle while she was laying eggs. She ran off for safety, leaving a trail of eggs behind her. That was a very painful scene,” said Haseen Bano, Memon’s wife who supports the work of the volunteers.

    Marine turtles have covered vast distances across the world’s oceans for more than 100 million years but human activity has tipped the scales against the survival of these ancient creatures, the World Wildlife Fund says.

    Until the early 2000s, the beaches of Pakistan’s Arabian coast were the nesting habitat for five endangered turtle species.

    Marine turtles have covered vast distances across the world’s oceans for more than 100 million years but human activity has tipped the scales against the survival of these ancient creatures, the World Wildlife Fund says. PHOTO: AFP

    Now only the green turtles come to shore to lay their eggs on just two beaches in Karachi and on uninhabited islands in Balochistan, further down the coast towards Iran.

    Alongside construction, noise and garbage pollution, WWF-Pakistan has also reported that diesel and petrol fumes have caused deformities in hatchlings.

    As well as major disruption to their nesting habitats, thousands of turtles are also injured or killed in fishing nets every year.

    Named for the greenish colour of their cartilage and fat, they are classified as endangered across the world.

    Sindh Wildlife Department has a dedicated team of six volunteers, paid according to fluctuating donations, who patrol the beaches after dark during nesting season between August and January.

    “When the turtles arrive to use the pits, our volunteers are present to take care of them and to ensure no one can disturb them,” Amir Khan told AFP.

    Data on the number of green turtles is not available in Pakistan but, for the past few years, the number of hatchlings has increased. PHOTO: AFP

    The 88 — a decent batch for a young female — were delicately collected the same night and taken to a protected coastal conservation centre and reburied in the sand for the 45-60 day hatching cycle, away from the danger of stray dogs, mongoose and snakes.

    Baby turtles just a few hours old and only about two inches long are meanwhile brought to the water’s edge in buckets by volunteers and released one-by-one, swimming off into the night.

    Data on the number of green turtles is not available in Pakistan but, for the past few years, the number of hatchlings has increased.

    In 2022, volunteers successfully hatched 30,000 eggs and the current year’s count has already passed 25,000 just over halfway through the season.

    Baby turtles just a few hours old and only about two inches long are brought to the water’s edge in buckets by volunteers and released one-by-one, swimming off into the night. PHOTO: AFP

    Khan said these “living dinosaurs” will continue to struggle against the accelerating urban sprawl of the city and the dangers posed by fishermen.

    “It feels good to take care of these turtles, they boost the beauty of our beach,” said Mohammad Javed, a 29-year-old volunteer who inherited the caretaker legacy from his father.

  • Karachi’s Jaweria arrives in India to marry Kolkata’s Sameer

    Karachi’s Jaweria arrives in India to marry Kolkata’s Sameer

    Another cross-border marriage is about to take place, this time in India. Jaweria from Karachi and Sameer from Kolkata are set to get married soon. Jaweria Khanum finally made it to India after a wait of five years to marry Sameer Khan Yousafzai.

    The two befriended each other on social media and got the approval of their families in 2018. The pair got engaged and started trying to get a visa to culminate their deep bond into marriage.


    Detailing the difficulties she met, Jaweria revealed that her visa was rejected twice, in addition to travel restrictions imposed during the Covid-19 pandemic.

    She was eventually granted a 45-day visa after two rejections. The couple plans to marry in the first week of January, with Jaweria expressing joy at fulfilling her wish after five years.

    Following her arrival in India, she was received with a wholehearted welcome from her future in-laws. The couple is set to travel from Amritsar to Kolkata, where the marriage ceremony is scheduled to take place.

  • Israel has ‘killed Christmas spirit’; Bethlehem reveals symbolic Christmas decoration this year

    The Evangelical Lutheran Christmas Church in Bethlehem, occupied West Bank, has new ideas for Christmas decorations as the season of festivity nears.

    Abandoning the conventional Christmas ornaments and Christmas tree decoration, the church has instead created debris symbolising the current destruction in Gaza. A pile of concrete pieces around an olive sapling can be seen in the setup, with a baby doll representing a trapped child under debris in the center.

    “While genocide is being committed against our people in Gaza, we cannot celebrate the birth of Jesus Christ this year in any way. We don’t feel like celebrating.,” the Evangelical Lutheran Christmas Church in Bethlehem’s pastor Munzir Ishak told Anadolu Agency.

    “Our message to ourselves is this: God is with us in this pain. Christ was born in solidarity with those in pain and suffering. God is with the oppressed,” he said.

    “Secondly, we wanted to tell churches worldwide: ‘Unfortunately, Christmas in Palestine is like this.’ Whether Christian or Muslim, this is the situation we are going through in Palestine. We are exposed to a genocide war targeting all Palestinians. Unfortunately, when we think of the birth of Baby Christ, we think of the babies brutally killed in Gaza,” he added.

    Earlier last month in November, the Christian leadership in Bethlehem announced they will not have Christmas celebrations in the West Bank this year in light of Israel’s bombardment of Gaza which has resulted in killing more than 16,000 people.

    In a letter, the Patriarchs and Heads of Churches in Jerusalem have unanimously agreed to cancel the commemoration of Christmas to conform to the spiritual significance of the holiday while Palestinians are being brutally killed by Israeli forces.

    City officials in Bethlehem also took down Christmas decorations in solidarity with Palestinians.

  • Gang of foreigners arrested for looting Sikh family in Lahore, reveals Lahore Police

    Gang of foreigners arrested for looting Sikh family in Lahore, reveals Lahore Police

    Update: The Organi­sed Crime Unit (OCU) of the Lahore police in a press conference revealed that a gang of robbers who reportedly looted members of a Sikh family in Gulberg a week ago are citizens of a neighbouring country. However, they did not mention the country they belong to.

    OCU SP Aftab Phularwan told Dawn on Tuesday that the police examined over 1,000 private cameras to trace the suspects who were living at a rented house in a private housing society near Raiwind and the landlord had not got his tenants (suspects) registered with the local police station.

    He said the OCU arrested the ringleader of the robbers’ gang Shahrukh, his wife Rehana Shahrukh and a cousin Irfan, who were “citizens of a neighbouring country”.

    In reply to a question whether the suspects belonged to India, he said “not at all”, adding that it would not be wise to name the country.

    SP Aftab informed the media that the alleged robbers would conduct snatching bids with Sikh yatrees and inform a hostile agency to defame Pakistan. A uniform of a government institution was also recovered from their custody.

    Mr Phularwan said that the OCU recovered from the suspects’ possession a wireless set, a 9MM pistol and the car they used in the crime against the Sikh family. Requesting anonymity another police officer told Dawn that the criminals arrested by the OCU police were Persian-speaking.

    He said the suspects travelled to Karachi and almost reached there to finally flee to their native country after their crime in Lahore attracted the attention of Pakistani authorities, but OCU police traced the suspects through their mobile phone call records and arrested them.

    Meanwhile, the Indian Sikh family met with Chief Secretary Zahid Akhtar Zaman at the Civil Secretariat and IG Police Tuesday and thanked the Punjab government for arresting the accused and recovering the loot. The Chief Secretary assured them that such an unpleasant incident would not happen in future.

    Previously, an Indian Sikh family headed by Kanwal Jeet Singh was looted by people dressed in police uniform on November 30 while they were shopping in Gulberg, Lahore. They were visiting Pakistan for the celebrations of Baba Guru Nanak Dev’s birth anniversary. The robbers took away Rs400,000 cash and jewellery belonging to the foreigners, reports Dawn.


    Caretaker Chief Minister Mohsin Naqvi took notice of the incident, speeding up the investigation, claiming that the ringleader of the gang, identified as Ahmad Raza, has been arrested, while raids are being conducted for the arrest of other members of the network.

    The incident


    CCTV footage, collected by the police, showed two suspected robbers in a white car. They stopped the Sikh family on the pretext of checking their documents. One of the suspects was clad in a police uniform and the other was in plain clothes.


    They forced the Sikh pilgrims to produce their documents while sitting in their car, as per the CCTV footage. During checking, they snatched the woman’s bag that contained cash, jewellery, and other valuables.


    The family could be seen in the footage running after the suspects’ car after the incident.


    An FIR was registered as a case of fraud instead of robbery. The report further says that the robbers took with them 150,000 Indian rupees, PKR 300,000, jewellery, and valuable watches.

  • Peshawar: Blast on Warsak Road injures seven, including three children

    Peshawar: Blast on Warsak Road injures seven, including three children

    Update: A blast shook the buildings of Warsak Road early in the morning on Tuesday in Peshawar. At least seven people, including three children, were injured in the explosion as confirmed by the police and hospital sources, reports Geo News.


    The blast took place around 9:10 am on Tuesday.

    SSP Operations Kashif Aftab Abbasi said the Machnigate Police Station’s mobile vehicle was on routine patrol when the bomb exploded.

    “As soon as the police mobile passed by, the blast occurred three seconds later. The militants wanted to target the police vehicle,” he said, speaking with Geo News.

    The police official said no arrests have been made yet, but the involved network will be apprehended soon.

    Abbasi added that the CCTV footage of the explosion is being examined.


    The police have confirmed that the explosion was an Improvised Explosive Device (IED) blast.


    The official revealed that four kilogrammes of explosives, planted in a cemented block on the side of the road, were used in the blast. The area has been cordoned off while further investigation is under way, Warsak Superintendent of Police Arshad Khan said.


    “It would be premature to say who was the target,” SP Arshad Khan said speaking with journalists as reported by Geo.


    The injured were shifted to the Lady Reading Hospital where two children are said to be in critical condition. All of them are between seven to 10 years of age, the hospital’s spokesperson told Geo News.


    Rescue officials told Geo that the glass windows of two vehicles and nearby buildings were broken due to the intensity of the explosion.
    Mayor Metropolitan Zubair Ali told journalists that the explosion near a school was an attempt to disturb peace and order.


    “The explosion near educational institutions is unfortunate.”

    Pakistan has witnessed a considerable increase in terror activities in recent months, especially in KP and Balochistan, after the Tehreek-i-Taliban Pakistan ended its ceasefire with the government in November last year.

    Pakistan Institute for Conflict and Security Studies (PICSS) in a report showed that the country experienced 34 per cent increase in anti-state violence last month, reported Dawn.

  • Saudi Arabia says ‘absolutely not’ to oil phaseout at COP28

    Saudi Arabia says ‘absolutely not’ to oil phaseout at COP28

    AFP – DUBAI: Saudi Arabia’s energy minister has slammed the door shut on agreeing to phase out fossil fuels at the UN’s COP28 climate talks, setting the stage for difficult negotiations in Dubai.

    A tentative “phasedown/out” was included in a first draft of an agreement on climate action that delegates are haggling over during talks that are scheduled to finish on Dec 12.

    But Energy Minister Prince Abdulaziz bin Salman, a half-brother of de facto ruler Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, told Bloomberg that Saudi Arabia, the world’s biggest oil exporter, would not agree.

    “Absolutely not,” he said in an interview in Riyadh.

    “And I assure you not a single person – I’m talking about governments – believes in that.”

    About 200 countries must come to a consensus decision at the meeting in Dubai, held at the end of the hottest year on record.

    In an interview with AFP last week, United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres called for a total phaseout of fossil fuels, warning “complete disaster” awaits mankind on its current trajectory.

    But Prince Abdulaziz said: “I would like to put that challenge for all of those who… comes out publicly saying we have to (phase out), I’ll give you their name and number, call them and ask them how they are gonna do that.

    “If they believe that this is the highest moral ground issue, fantastic. Let them do that themselves. And we will see how much they can deliver.”

    ‘Small change’

    Separately, the Saudi royal also derided Western donations to a new climate loss and damage fund as “small change” and trumpeted Riyadh’s pledges to developing countries.

    The fund for vulnerable nations – a major win at the start of COP28 – has attracted about US$655 million (S$876.22 million) so far from donors including the European Union and the United States, a sum criticised as insufficient by campaigners.

    “Unlike the small change offered for loss and damage from our partners in developed countries, the Kingdom through its South-South cooperation announced in the Saudi Africa Summit in Riyadh last month the allocation of up to US$50 billion,” he said in a video message to Monday’s Saudi Green Initiative forum, held on the sidelines of COP28.

    “This will help build resilient infrastructure and strengthen climate resilience and adaptation in the African continent directly through Saudi stakeholders,” added the prince, without giving further details.

    Such private funds have been criticised by campaigners for lacking transparency and because the pledges are non-binding and include loans and investments.

    Saudi Arabia has revamped its energy sources, invested in renewables and improved energy-efficiency as it tries to decarbonise its economy by 2030, Prince Abdulaziz added.

    But that target does not include emissions from the 8.9 million barrels of oil a day exported by Saudi Arabia.

    Africa and its energy mix is an area of focus for both Saudi and the UAE, which in September pledged US$4.5 billion for clean-energy investments in the continent.

    “You cannot go to undeveloped countries or developing countries and ask them to do the same measures of the transition,” Yasir Al-Rumayyan, chairman of Saudi state oil giant Aramco, told the forum.

    “Especially people who don’t have access to the energy.”

    He said he heard an African minister say “in order for us to have growth, we have to carbonise first then to decarbonise.”