European travel vlogger and YouTuber Christian Betzmann has accepted Islam after staying in Pakistan for around a year.
Betzmann announced the news on social media, sharing a picture of himself holding a certificate from the Islamic School of Miami.
“I have accepted Islam,” wrote Betzmann in the caption. “I started this channel last December and spend almost one year in Pakistan. During this time I met so many incredible people and learned a lot about the religion and the lifestyle.”
“Growing up in Europe the word Islam was always connected with negativity, war, terrorism and to be completely honest I was never a religious person before so I didn’t really care what people thought back then. My best childhood friends were Muslims and deep inside we are all human beings in the same simulation we call life,” Betzmann added.
Calling Islam a religion of peace he further said: “Islam is the religion of peace and I felt a deeper connection and something I want to experience and explore deeper for myself.”
He also posted a vlog on his YouTube channel titled I ACCEPTED ISLAM | MY SHAHADA.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6hxDOfNm-u0
YouTubers Zaid Ali, Sham Idrees and people from entertainment industry including Zoya Nasir, Minal Khan and Zara Noor Abbas congratulated him on the big decision.
Two white tigers cubs aged 3 months have died in Lahore Zoo, Geo News has reported.
According to Director Lahore Zoo Chaudhry Shafqat, the cubs died because the mother could not take proper care of them. The director said the tigress gave birth to three cubs and while one died during the birth, “the remaining two cubs were sick for the past two months”.
On the other hand, another report has claimed that the caretakers of the tiger cubs were not able to take proper care of the animals due to shortage of funds resulting in their death.
This is not the first incident of mistreatment of animals by zoo authorities.
Two months ago Peshawar Zoolost its fourth giraffe in 2020, just a few days after a black bear’s alleged death.
Islamabad zoo shuts down after last animals moved
Meanwhile, Islamabad’s Marghazar Zoo — which drew international condemnation for its treatment of lonely elephant Kaavan — shut down in December 2020 after its final occupants Babloo and Suzie were relocated to Jordan.
The two Himalayan bears were the last to leave the Islamabad facility, almost three weeks after the country’s only Asian elephant was flown to a wildlife sanctuary in Cambodia.
Bakhtawar Bhutto-Zardari and Mahmood Choudhry’s intimate nuptials is all social media can talk about – more because details and pictures from the event were limited. Now that the festivities have wrapped up, the newlyweds are sharing snippets from their wedding on social media.
After Zara Shahjahan and Bakhtawar gave us a close up of her mehndi dress, designer Haris Ahmed has revealed the process that went behind making Bakhtawar’s reception jora, adding that it required “over 800 hours” to make.
Sharing a lovely picture of the bride and groom, Ahmed said the outfit “harmoniously blends ace craftsmanship with the utmost design precision to create [a] look that [is] the epitome of elegance and truly timeless in appeal.”
“Our team worked over 800 development hours to bring this precious masterpiece, defined by the finest quality of hand-woven couture produced by zardozi “the art of gold sewing”, layered with the sucha gota “real gota” and [an] intricate twist of glistening threads that accentuate the design and reflects creativity that reinvents the traditional aesthetic,” added the designer.
Ahmed also shared a picture of the outfit as it was being prepared in the workshop.
In a separate post, the designer revealed that the Brunswick green pure raw silk and chiffon ensemble was hand embellished with sucha (pure) heavy gota work.
Diriliş: Ertuğrul‘s popularity in Pakistan is no secret. Ever since the superhit Turkish series aired with Urdu dubbing on PTV it has developed a cult following.
The show’s love has even paved its way into Pakistani weddings with people bringing the ancient Ottoman culture to their weddings.
Recently, a group of young men performed an Ertuğrul-themed dance at a wedding in Lahore. The group donned a traditional tribal dress and danced to the theme song of Diriliş: Ertuğrul using swords and shields as their props.
The United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organisation (UNESCO) has declared Lahore the ‘City of Literature’ making it the first city in the country to have received this title.
In a ceremony held at the Alhamra Art Center’s Burney Garden, government officials including Special Assistant to the Chief Minister on Information Dr Firdous Ashiq Awan and UNESCO director spoke about the importance of Lahore as a center of learning and warmth. According to a report in Dawn News, Chief Minister Punjab Usman Buzdar was also supposed to attend the event but could not make it due to prior commitments.
Speaking at the event, UNESCO Director Patricia Mcphillips said: “[Lahore] has a rich vibrant culture and is now in the network of cities recognised by Unesco for its literary status.”
On the other hand, Dr Awan, speaking at the event, said that it was a historic day for the people of Lahore as the city would now be globally known as the ‘City of Literature’. Dr Firdous said that “Lahore is the city of flowers, monuments, writers and Sufi saints”, adding that the government would take special measures to celebrate Lahore’s status by organising literary activities round the year.
“We have to revive Lahore’s culture related to literary sittings and poetic symposiums,” remarked Dr Firdous.
A memorandum of understanding (MoU) was also signed between the Lahore Arts Council and UNESCO at the occasion.
Earlier in November 2019, UNESCO included Lahore in its list of cities that have been designated asUnesco Creative Cities. A total of 66 cities were selected for 2019’s list.
Massive jams in major parts of Lahore on Thursday spelt misery for citizens on the second consecutive day with little or no public knowledge regarding the jams except assumptions that the South African cricket team was in town.
According to the details of the jam, the city’s arteries, including Jail Road, Canal Bank Road and The Mall, remained blocked for traffic as contingents of police and rangers barred motorists from movement on the said roads.
As a result, all routes leading to the aforementioned major roads also remained choked with traffic jams in Shadman, Shah Jamal, Gulberg, Mozang, Upper & Lower Mall, Lytton Road, Liberty Chowk, Kalma Chowk and Davis Road among other adjoining areas.
But what could have been the cause, especially when the South African team is currently playing its second Test against Pakistan in Rawalpindi?
Well, a separate Proteas T20 squad arrived in Lahore on Wednesday for three-match series against the Green Shirts.
Security before the movement of the team was beefed up in the Punjab capital and the guests were shifted to the hotel in the fully escorted motorcade.
Heinrich Klaasen will lead the South Africa squad in the three fixtures which will be played on February 11, 13, and 14. The first practice session is scheduled for Friday.
The series will start at the Gaddafi Stadium Lahore on February 11, and so, the current traffic situation is likely to prevail until February 15, after which the Pakistan Super League (PSL) matches could add to motorists’ woes.
Meanwhile, Pakistan captain Babar Azam won the toss and elected to bat in the second and final Test in Rawalpindi against South Africa on Thursday.
Pakistan retained the playing XI which won the first Test by seven wickets inside four days at Karachi last week.
Winters may not be ending anytime soon, end of season sales are here. The Current has tried to make your shopping drill easier by compiling a list of brands that are offering discounts. Don’t miss out on these sales for a chance to grab some steals.
Gul Ahmed
Gul Ahmed is offering up to 70% off on in-stores and online. You can avail discount on pret, unstitched, sweaters and on bed sets.
In a 14-minute-long video shot inside President House’s library, President Alvi listed his top must-read books and encouraged the youth to read them.
“I want the interest of book reading to stay alive in Pakistan,” says President Alvi in the video.
Books, reading, & search for knowledge, is real fulfillment of my hearts desires. No better hobby I can think of, to be closer to God & to understand the Whys & Hows of my existence. It is a pursuit that yields happiness & better understanding of human thought & actions الحمد لله https://t.co/ihDKkzobl0
I see @ArifAlvi juggling multiple books on his side table – trick to make time to read books is by entirely IGNORING his cell phone – Ringtone on perm mute & WhatsApp & Twitter addiction in control #GoodHabit#FavBooksOfPresident
“Just two kids from a small town in Pakistan, who escaped their conservative families” is how Sidra Qasim describes herself and her husband, Waqas Ali, the power couple behind Atoms – a New York-based footwear brand known for its quarter sizes and comfortable sneakers.
However, their road to success was not an easy one. In an interview with Brandon Stanton of Humans of New York, Sidra opened up about their journey and how they set up their footwear brand.
“It’s the same story taught to every Pakistani girl. We are raised from a young age to believe that our purpose in life is to find and keep a husband,” said Sidra in the first of her 11-part interview. But even as a child, Sidra had bigger dreams, and she held on to them even as her family pressurized her to get married right out of school.
Sidra, who belongs to the small town of Okara, first met Waqas at her aunt’s house. He was one of her aunt’s students.
“We’d discuss life, and society, and human emotions. It became the only chance I had to exchange my ideas with anyone. And Waqas took my opinions seriously,” she shared.
After school, Sidra enrolled in a college and became one of the only 15 female students there. It was after she successfully produced a play to help with flood relief efforts that Waqas asked her to join him in Lahore – where he had moved to study further – and become his business partner.
“It finally felt as though my talents were being recognised, and the next day I asked for my parent’s permission. But they refused,” said Sidra.
The refusal came as a blow to Sidra, who describes lying listlessly on the couch for weeks – to the point where it scared her father. Eventually, they agreed to let her move to Lahore, where she began working with Waqas on a company called ‘Social Media Art’ which aimed to help brands establish a social media presence.
As their company struggled, Waqas and Sidra grew closer.
“We never discussed the status of our relationship, but both of us could feel a closeness. We were bonded by our journey. Both of us were defying our parents,” she said. “But after a year of rejection, we had begun to lose hope.”
A ray of hope came from unlikely quarters when Sidra and Waqas met with a group of craftsmen in the local village council of Okara.
“They were making leather shoes on the floor of a two-room workshop,” she added.
Sidra returned to the workshop again and again for a week and, in the end, the craftsmen agreed to collaborate with them.
While Waqas worked on the website, Sidra ensured that the shoes they produced met the “highest quality standards”.
“We called our collection ‘Hometown Shoes.’ And after we launched our website, the first order came in right away,” said Sidra, adding that though they made a loss on the order due to the high shipping cost to France, the couple did not give up hope.
“After a year we were selling about 50 shoes per month. We were happy to have any business at all, but it wasn’t nearly enough to survive,” said Sidra. They started a highly successful Kickstarter campaign and raised $1,07,000 in 2014 by selling over 600 pairs of shoes.
After that, Sidra and Waqas got married in a small ceremony – and immediately began to work on their application for the Y-combinator accelerator program in San Francisco. “The admissions process was more selective than Harvard, and they’d helped launch companies like Airbnb and Dropbox,” Sidra added.
Although she describes their interview as a “disaster”, they did get through and moved to the US.
Their time at Y-combinator was one of making mistakes and learning from them. “We were the only company in our group who didn’t raise money. And to make matters even worse, it had been a formal event,” said Sidra, describing Demo Day which is sort of a final exam for participants of the program. “Many of our classmates had dressed up. But none of them were wearing the shoes we had sold them.”
Doing more market research helped them understand that most people wanted shoes they could wear every day, and so Sidra and Waqas shifted their focus from formal footwear to casual.
“We researched the highest quality materials, and we put all of our findings into a document called ‘Ideal, Everyday Shoe.’ Then we gave all our notes to a talented designer. Together we built a prototype, and we called them ‘Atoms,’ because we’d gone to the atomic level in search of quality.”
It took them several months to manufacture their first collection after extensive customer feedback and market research. “By the time we were ready to launch, 45,000 people had signed up for our mailing list. On the first day of sales, our website crashed,” Sidra continued.
Their company expanded to 25 employees, but they also had to go through a round of layoffs. At the beginning of the pandemic, to stay afloat in the face of dwindling funds and investors unwilling to put in more money, Atoms expanded to making masks.
“One year later we’ve sold 500,000 of them and donated 500,000 more. Our shoe business has continued to grow, and once again investors are calling on the phone,” Sidra told Humans Of New York.
She concluded the interview by talking about the change that her business has helped brought about. She has been able to help her family back in Pakistan financially. “But more importantly I’ve provided an example,” says Sidra.
One of her younger sisters is now working as a fitness coach, the other is selling sanitary pads. But the biggest transformation, she said, has been in her mother – a school headmistress who now tells her students to be financially independent and learn technology.
“She’s telling them all the things that I needed to hear as a little girl. The road was so lonely for me, and maybe I still carry some unconscious resentment,” said Sidra.
“But my mother has apologised for not supporting me more. And consciously I have forgiven her.”
Sidra and Waqas started Atoms armed with ambition, curiosity, and a passion for making shoes. Despite coming from modest, traditionally conservative upbringings, that drive took them from Okara, Pakistan, to the closest big city—Lahore, to Silicon Valley, and then to Brooklyn, where Atoms is currently based.
Bilquis Eidi has been selected as the Person of the Decade by an international web based organisation ‘Impact Hallmarks’.
As per details, the finalists were shortlisted out of over 1.6 million notables with diverse backgrounds and from over 190 countries. According to the organisation’swebsite, the finalists were then presented to the global audience to pick out the person of their choice by voting.
In a statement, the organisation said: “As per the domino effect verdict, concerning the IH international opinion poll outcomes, Stephen Soldz, an upright ethicist and moralist from the US, Ms Bilquis Edhi, an unparalleled noted humanitarian from Pakistan and Prof Yanghee Lee, the fabled unsurpassed human rights rapporteur of the UN, have evidently stretched and segmented the top of the decade’s impact hallmarks and the opinion poll’s top ‘tri-archy’ as well.”
Bilquis Bano Edhi is a professional nurse, who heads the Bilquis Edhi Foundation. She has spent more than six decades of her life serving humanity in need. Her charity has saved over 42,000 unwanted babies so far by placing ‘jhoolas’ [cradles] at the Edhi Homes and centres across the country.
Called the Mother of Pakistan, Bilquis Edhi has already been given various national and foreign awards including Hilal-e-Imtiaz, the Lenin Peace Prize, Mother Teresa Memorial International Award for Social Justice (2015), and the Ramon Magsaysay Award for Public Service, she received along with her husband Abdul Sattar Edhi in 1986.
Besides the three topmost ‘Persons of the Decade’, the verdict announcement called seven other persons “true patrons of change, the flag-bearers of righteousness and the domino effect architects of the Top-10 of the impact hierarchy of the decade,” which includes Prof. Aurangzeb Hafi from Pakistan.
