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Category: Lifestyle

  • Karachi residents disappointed as ATMs run out of cash ahead of Eid-ul-Azha

    Karachi residents disappointed as ATMs run out of cash ahead of Eid-ul-Azha

    As the country prepares to celebrate Eid-ul-Azha on June 29, the residents of Karachi are encountering a pressing issue with the depletion of cash in automated teller machines (ATMs).

    Consumers have expressed their grievances regarding the frequent unavailability of ATM services during the lead-up to Eid festivities.

    “We have made multiple visits to ATMs since this morning, only to find them out of order and devoid of cash,” shared concerned individuals.

    It is not uncommon for consumers to encounter difficulties with ATMs nearing the arrival of Eid. This situation arises due to the heightened demand for cash withdrawals, particularly for the purchase of sacrificial animals.

    Pakistan is set to observe Eid on June 29 (Thursday). The government has declared a four-day holiday for the public, including the Day of Arafah, which falls on June 28.

  • Indian soldiers accused of forcing Muslim worshippers to chant ‘Jai Shree Ram’ in occupied Kashmir mosque

    Indian soldiers accused of forcing Muslim worshippers to chant ‘Jai Shree Ram’ in occupied Kashmir mosque

    Two former chief ministers of India-held Kashmir, Mehbooba Mufti and Omar Abdullah, have called for an investigation into an alleged incident where Indian soldiers reportedly forced Muslim worshippers in a mosque in Pulwama to chant Hindu slogans.

    Mufti expressed her concern over the incident and requested a probe into the matter, while Abdullah described the reports as distressing and hoped for a transparent investigation.

    According to Indian media, the soldiers arrived in a village in Pulwama and conducted a nighttime drill, keeping the villagers awake until dawn.

    At sunrise, they allegedly forced the Muezzin to chant “Jai Shree Ram” slogans and detained several villagers, some of whom were subjected to physical assault.

    The incident has drawn attention from senior army officials, who stated that they are assessing the situation and will provide details once they have clarity.

    The army has reportedly apologised to the villagers, and an army major involved in the incident has been removed.

  • Survey resurfaces: 40 per cent Pakistani men believe beating wife justified five years ago

    Survey resurfaces: 40 per cent Pakistani men believe beating wife justified five years ago

    According to a resurfaced Demographic and Health survey taken in 2018 by the National Institute of Population Studies (NIPS), around 40 per cent men agreed that a husband is justified in beating his wife.

    However, the reasons for beating were as follows: If she burns his food, goes out without his permission, neglects his children or refuses to have sex with him. Surprisingly, 42 per cent women had also agreed with the statement. Around 34 per cent women, the report reveals, had experienced spousal violence, whether it was physical, sexual or emotional.

    The report states that 28 per cent married women had experienced physical violence since the age of 15, and 15 per cent women had experienced violence in the past year.

    Up to seven per cent married women admitted that they experienced violence during their pregnancy.

    On experiencing sexual violence, six per cent married women had experienced sexual violence and the most common perpetuator was revealed to be the husband, while 14 per cent women who were divorced, seperated or widowed had experienced sexual violence.

    Moving on to financial stability and empowerment, the survey reported that only 19 per cent married women had been working in the past 12 months, compared to 98 per cent married men.

    Half of the married women who are employed and earned an income, made independent decisions on how to spend their earnings, while 41 per cent made joint decisions with their husband. 76 per cent of working women reported making less money than their husband.

    The survey also found that only three per cent of ever-married women owned a house, alone or jointly, compared to 72 per cent ever-married men.

    The survey sampled from all four provinces including Punjab, Sindh, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, Balochistan, including Azad Jammu Kashmir and FATA. A total of 12,364 women between the ages of 15-49 and 3,145 men had participated in the survey.

  • ‘Tax rate Australia walay aur facilities Afghanistan wali’, Twitter is angry over income tax increase

    ‘Tax rate Australia walay aur facilities Afghanistan wali’, Twitter is angry over income tax increase

    On Friday, Minister of Finance Ishaq Dar announced fiscal adjustments for the upcoming fiscal year (FY24), part of which is a notable 2.5% additional income tax individuals within the salaried class who earn a monthly income exceeding Rs200,000.

    The present government is being criticised for adjustments that will increase the tax burden specifically on the salaried class.

    The decision to impose additional income tax on the salaried class, while leaving powerful sectors like real estate and agriculture relatively untouched, has left many Pakistanis angry. Many are using memes to express their frustration.

    Have a look at the twitter reactions:

  • 12 dead in heavy downpours and lightening strikes across country

    12 dead in heavy downpours and lightening strikes across country

    On Sunday night, many regions in Pakistan were hit by extreme weather, resulting in lightning strikes and torrential rain that claimed the lives of 12 people and injured 15 others.


    Lightning struck at Punjab’s Narowal, Pasrur, Sheikhupura and Sialkot districts, resulting in the deaths of 12 individuals, including children, and injuring seven more.

    In Lahore, a powerful rainstorm also caused damage to 150 power feeders. Heavy rains caused numerous issues for residents, including power outages and flooded roads.

    Due to the heavy rainfall, the roof of a home collapsed in Takhta Band village in Buner, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, leading to the death of a woman and injuries to six others.

    Heavy rains were also experienced in Shabqadar, Swat, Charsadda, Mansehra, Lower Dir, Swabi, and North Waziristan.

    The Met Office has predicted that moist currents are entering the upper and central parts of the country from the Arabian Sea, and a westerly wave entered the upper regions of the country on June 25. Consequently, severe weather conditions are likely to persist.

    In Islamabad, Rawalpindi, Murree, Galliyat, Attock, Chakwal, Jhelum, Kashmir, Gilgit Baltistan, Chitral, Swat, Mansehra, Kohistan, Abbottabad, Haripur, Peshawar, Mardan, Swabi, Nowshera, Kurram, Bannu, Lakki Marwat, Kohat, Mianwali, Sargodha, Hafizabad, and MB Din, rain/wind-thundershower with isolated heavy falls is also expected from 26th to 29th June. In addition, Barkhan, Loralai, Sibbi, Naseerabad, Kalat, Khuzdar, Zhob, Ziarat, Musakhel, D I Khan, Karak, Waziristan, D G Khan, Rajanpur, Multan, Bhakkar, Layyah, Kot Addu, Bahawalpur, Bahawalnagar, Sahiwal, Pakpattan, Okara, may experience heavy rainfalls during the same period, while Sukkur, Jacobabad, and Larkana may see them on 27th and 28th June.

    The PMD also warned that current heatwave conditions are likely to subside during the projected period.

    On June 26 and 27, heavy rains could lead to urban floods in low-lying districts of Islamabad, Rawalpindi, Peshawar, Gujranwala, and Lahore. They may also trigger landslides in regions prone to such occurrences, like Murree, Galliyat, Kashmir, Gilgit Baltistan, and hilly areas of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa.

    Intense rain may result in flash flooding in the hill torrents of D G Khan and neighboring regions of northeast Balochistan.

    During the projected period, “all concerned authorities are advised to remain vigilant and take necessary precautions,” added the PMD.

  • ‘A park is supposed to open to all’: Twitter is angry at ban on entry of non-residents in DHA park

    ‘A park is supposed to open to all’: Twitter is angry at ban on entry of non-residents in DHA park

    Defence Housing Authority (DHA) Karachi has shared a notification of entry procedure for Nisar Shaheed Park located in phase IV of the society. The notification read that residents can not visit the park individually, they need to be accompanied by family.

    “Residents of DHA who wish to visit the park for a walk must be appropriately dressed in a sports kit or, at the very least, joggers paired with Shalwar Kameez, or pant shirt,” it added.


    The last point of the notice, which is being widely criticised on social media, bars non-residents of DHA from entering the park

    https://twitter.com/dhakarachiofc/status/1672217328472260609?s=46&t=X5V4RcFfiB3leRX0grZ3Eg

    Social media users are outrage because parks are meant to be a public place. Have a look at the tweets:

    Have a look at the tweets:

  • ‘Epic’: Twitter lauds acapella group for singing song written by Muslim for Modi’s arrival at White House

    ‘Epic’: Twitter lauds acapella group for singing song written by Muslim for Modi’s arrival at White House

    Two days ago, when Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi arrived at the US White House, a video went viral of the all-Indian acapella group Penn Masala sang ‘Jashn-e-Bahara’ in celebration of his arrival. Many Twitter users interpreted this as a clever diss to the controversial politician over his Islamophobic government, and also as a direct response to Biden who revealed that he will not talk to the Indian Prime Minister about human right violations during his visit.

    ‘Jashn-e-Bahara’ is an Urdu song written by the Muslim artists A.R Rehman and Javed Akhtar, and was sung by Javed Ali. The song was featured in the film ‘Jodhaa Akbar’, a movie about the marriage between the Mughal Emperor Akbar and his Hindu wife Jodha.

    Twitter users lauded this discreet but clever way to troll a secular and facist politcian, who has been criticised by American politicians like Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, Rashida Tlaib and Ilhan Omar, who announced that they were boycotting Modi’s address to Congress, citing the politician’s abysmal human right’s record, as well as his erosion of religious freedom in India.

    Some also felt that the song was an indirect target towards the Indian government’s move to remove chapters from school textbooks on Mughal rulers.

    https://twitter.com/onlynina/status/1671905008017629185?s=20
    https://twitter.com/pramitheus/status/1671894369060933632?s=20

    One user wrote: “The irony of an urdu song from a film glorifying mughal emperor Akbar.”

  • Faisalabad man murders female colleague in London

    Faisalabad man murders female colleague in London

    Muhammad Arslan has been jailed in the U.K for suffocating one of his female colleagues with a face mask and then hiding her body in a suitcase, Geo News reports.

    Arslan, 27, claimed to have forced a face mask into the mouth of 21-year-old Hina Bashir in order to “quieten” her after he confronted her over alleged nude photographs that had been sent out. The prosecution rejected his explanation as “elaborate and concocted”, asserting he had killed Hina out of anger and jealousy.

    Both Arslan and Hina had grown up together in the same village in Faisalabad. Arslan would try to approach Hina romantically, but she rejected his advances. Within months of her moving to the UK in November 2021, Arslan followed her.

    On the eve of July 11 last year, Hina and two of her friends visited Arslan’s shared flat in Ilford, east London, in order to collect some belongings she had left there while she was moving. Hina went up alone, and that was the last time her friends saw her alive, Geo reports.

    Arslan admitted manslaughter on the first day of his trial but denied murder and concealing Hina’s body. However, a jury at the Old Bailey found him guilty on all charges.

    Judge Richard Marks KC sentenced him to life imprisonment with a minimum term of 20 years for the murder and five years running concurrently for his heinous crime.

    The judge told Arslan: “I am satisfied…that your unrequited feelings for Hina boiled over and resulted in you taking hold of a facemask and forcing it into the back of her mouth which led to her collapse and ultimately to her death from asphyxiation.”

    He added that Arslan’s prime motivation was to save himself after killing Hina, hence the “campaign of lies” to conceal his crime, before disposing of her body in a “shocking and callous manner”. Arslan had hid her body in a suitcase overnight, before traveling to an industrial estate to hide the suitcase in undergrowth on the side of a lane, evidence reveals.

    The Judge declared it was apparent that Arslan had been “obsessed” with Hina, feelings clearly not reciprocated. He went on to say that he was extremely skeptical of the claim that he had been sent naked photos of Hina prior to the attack, as “no such photos were ever recovered”.

    In an interview with Geo, the victim’s father, Bashir Khan, stated, “even animals would treat my daughter better.”

  • Bullying by teacher in Karachi continued even after death of a classmate

    Bullying by teacher in Karachi continued even after death of a classmate

    A prominent private school in Karachi is allegedly protecting and, in turn, aiding bullying by a Grade 11 English teacher despite complaints by students and a student’s parents. The teacher went so far as to bully a student, Amal*  in front of the school principal but the principal remained silent. 

    “This is why no one likes you or wants to talk to you.”

    “You aren’t allowed to cry and play victim.”

    “You’re pathetic.”

    The series of bullying events took place at different occasions and almost always in front of eyewitnesses, which included other students and the principal. 

    Amal states that during a school trip this year to Turkey, the teacher verbally attacked Amal on the bus. Another student was trying to find her missing phone and had forgotten she had given her phone to Amal. When the phone was returned to the owner, the teacher turned to Amal and said, “This is why no one likes you or wants to talk to you. You aren’t allowed to cry and play victim like you always do because this is all your fault. You better not start crying.” The comments were made in front of the student’s classmates and the principal of the school was also present in the bus. The principal did nothing.  

    This was not the first time that Amal had been bullied by the same teacher. 

    The teacher targeted Amal by telling Amal’s friends to ‘stay away from her’ and not interact with her. If students did not comply with the teacher’s demand, she approached them and said: “What did I tell you about staying away from her [Amal]?” She also did this while Amal was standing with her friends.

    Conversation between Amal and her classmate who passed away, who was told to stay away from her by the teacher involved. She scolded him in the lobby for speaking to Amal.

    Bullying by teachers is a common occurrence in Pakistan and in the world. According to recent studies, about 15 per cent of children are likely to be targeted by teachers, and 93 per cent of high school and college students identified at least one teacher as a bully in their school. The reason why the teacher tends to get away with it is because most schools are not willing to take action — and lose — teachers and rather look the other way. 

    Three months later after the school trip, Amal’s friend and classmate died in an accident. in a It was a difficult time for the school and the student’s friends and classmates. Shockingly, the teacher’s bullying did not stop then either. The teacher reportedly told other students that Amal was an ‘attention seeker’ by crying at the classmate’s funeral. Many students were shocked by how the teacher was speaking about the death of her student, and relating it to another student. 

    Studies show that teachers who bully students usually were bullied when they were in school. But the problem with school teachers in Pakistan runs deeper. 

    Our teachers, even those who work at private schools, are not trained or equipped to teach. “They do not have degrees in education or know how to deal with students and this is a serious problem. You’re dealing with the lives of students, their childhood, the way they will grow and treat others. It’s a serious role, the role of a teacher and Pakistani schools don’t take it seriously,”  an educationist told The Current.

    *The student’s name has been changed to maintain confidentiality.

  • Simpsons fans suspect show predicted Titanic sub misadventure 

    Simpsons fans suspect show predicted Titanic sub misadventure 

    It is truly an interesting coincidence that the famous animated television serial The Simpsons has managed to predict a variety of current events. Whether it was Trump running for president or Lady Gaga’s 2017 superbowl performance, the FOX comedy series has gained cult classic notoriety for its cutting satire seemingly accurately predicting world events. 

    Fans of the show have jumped on the bandwagon again in light of the missing Titan submersible. The episode “Simpson Tide” aired in 1998, scenes of which bore a striking resemblance to the events of the missing OceanGate sub. 

    In the episode, ‘Homer’s Paternity Coot’, Homer and his alleged dad Fairbanks stumble upon the wreckage of a massie sunken ship packed with treasure. However, Homer gets lost and trapped in a coral reef. He tries to free himself as an “oxygen low” light shines.

    When asked for a comment, the Simpsons writer Mark Reiss told the New York Post, “That’s my show. Even I forgot about that.” He went on to explain, “We did that episode because the movie ‘Crimson Tide’ had just come out. We didn’t predict the future, we just did it off that movie and 20 years later, something like that happened.”

    Reiss has himself descended 13,000 feet to view the Titanic wreckage. According to the Post, Reiss signed a waiver warning multiple times of possible death, knew the risks, and apparently even took extra paper with him to write his last jokes in case something went wrong. 

    “Death is always lurking, it’s always in the back of your mind,” Reiss said, reflecting on the voyage.