Current Final

Category: Lifestyle

  • KP Police arrest offenders involved in vandalising ancient Buddha statue

    KP Police arrest offenders involved in vandalising ancient Buddha statue

    The Khyber Pakhtunkhwa police have arrested offenders involved in smashing an antique Gandharan Buddha statue in Mardan, Adviser to KP Chief Minister on Information and Public Relations Kamran Khan Bangash has said.

    In a Twitter update, the CM’s aide also said that an FIR has been lodged against the culprits under the Antiquities Act. Under the Act, demolition of archaeological sites is illegal.

    The ruling party’s official Twitter handle also shared the update and said that the remaining parts of the Buddha have been recovered by the Mardan Police.

    Read more – After Kartarpur, Pakistan is ready to welcome Buddhist pilgrims

    According to reports, the statue was discovered by locals while construction work was being done in a village near Takht-i-Bahi Tehsil in Mardan District. Situated 80km from the provincial capital Peshawar, Takht-i-Bahi is an important site for Buddhist archaeological remains dating back nearly 2,000 years.

    In a video, which is being widely circulated on social media, several men are seen smashing the Buddha with a sledgehammer and congratulating each other for doing so.

    Preliminary reports suggested that the locals smashed the Buddha at the behest of a local maulvi sahab who advised them to smash the statue or else they would lose their imaan (faith) and their nikkah would become invalid. However, Director Archeology Dr Abdul Samad Khan has said that the Buddha was broken due to lack of knowledge.

    Dr Samad added that the statue belonged to the Gandhara civilisation and was approximately 1,700 years old.

    Meanwhile, Minister for Science and Technology Fawad Chaudhry condemned the act.

    Actor Ali Rehman Khan also expressed his outrage at the incident.

  • Indian man travels 1200 kilometres to meet girlfriend in Pakistan

    Indian man travels 1200 kilometres to meet girlfriend in Pakistan

    An Indian man hailing from Maharashtra, Siddiqui Mohammad Zishan, travelled nearly 1200 kilometres to meet a girl from Shah Faisal town in Karachi, Pakistan. According to details, Zishan, who is an engineering student, befriended the girl on Facebook and had been communicating with her over social media including Facebook and Whatsapp. Zishan wanted to cross the border and come to Pakistan using Google Maps.

    However, the 20-year-old’s plans were cut short when the Indian Border Security Force (BSF) caught him in Gujarat’s Rann of Kutch while he was trying to cross over to the other side of the border on foot. The young man revealed that he had travelled nearly 1200-odd kilometres to meet his friend.

    According to reports, he was found by BSF personnel in a dehydrated condition and had fainted.  An ATM card and other documents like Aadhaar card helped security officials identify him.

    During the search operation, the BSF also found a bike that the youth had abandoned when he reached close to the border. He had used the bike to travel from his hometown in Maharashtra. The young man was caught about 1.5 kilometres away from the Indo-Pakistan international border based on information shared by the Crime Branch of Maharashtra Police. The police added that Zishan had started walking towards Pakistan after his motorcycle got stuck in the sand.

    The Maharashtra Police had informed the Gujarat Police about a missing complaint that had been filed by the parents of the man. The Gujarat Police with the help of the Border Security Force personnel traced the young man by tracking his mobile phone.

    The BSF has handed over the young man to the police for further investigation and so that his story can be verified.

  • Police arrest Khairpur teacher for raping, filming minor students

    Police arrest Khairpur teacher for raping, filming minor students

    The Sindh Police have arrested a retired schoolteacher for allegedly raping minor students, many of whom he tutored at a private property in Khairpur. The suspect was caught on Friday evening after escaping arrest earlier.

    https://twitter.com/sindhpolicedmc/status/1284107833399824384?s=20

    According to details, Sukkur range Deputy Inspector General (DIG) Fida Hussain Mastoi said police had raided the suspect’s hometown but he managed to escape. The DIG also confirmed the scandal that went viral on social media.

    The suspect, who was a government schoolteacher, had recently retired. He was accused of raping one of his students, recording the act and then circulating it on social media. He has also been accused of forcing his students to commit sodomy with each other. It is pertinent to mention here that all students at his tuition centre were between the ages of 10 and 12.

    After the news gained traction on social media, social activists, journalists and other members of the civil society expressed their outrage on the matter and demanded the authorities take strict action against the suspect.

    https://twitter.com/SameenaERana/status/1284028366019072002?s=20
    https://twitter.com/M_Osamaa_/status/1284188092656689155?s=20

    Mehwish Hayat also took to Twitter to applaud the Sindh Police for taking swift action.

  • Punjab govt launches app for online purchase of sacrificial animals

    Punjab govt launches app for online purchase of sacrificial animals

    The Punjab government has launched an application ‘Bakra Mandi Online’ for the online purchase of the sacrificial animals for Eid-ul-Azha amid the COVID-19 pandemic.

    The application can be used to buy sacrificial animals without visiting the cattle markets that are set by the government in the province under strict COVID-19 SOPs.

    The application has all the details (age, weight, and race) and images of the animals.

    Read More – Eid ul Adha: Cattle markets to operate from 6 am to 7 pm

    The Punjab government on July 04 issued the standard operating procedures for the establishment of cattle markets for Eid ul Azha.

    According to the notification issued by Punjab health ministry, cattle markets should be established 2-5 kilometers outside the city area. The markets should have large parking lots with separate entry and exit points, the notification read.

    The elderly and children will not be allowed to visit the markets.

    “People experiencing symptoms like fever, the cough should avoid visiting cattle markets,” the notification added.

  • PML-N lawmaker in Punjab seeks action against men with fashionable beards, their barbers

    PML-N lawmaker in Punjab seeks action against men with fashionable beards, their barbers

    Pakistan Muslim League Nawaz (PML-N) MPA Rukhsana Kausar has tabled a resolution in the provincial house of Punjab seeking a ban on beard styling and action against men with fashionable beards as well as their barbers.

    According to Kausar’s resolution, beard is the sunnah of Prophet Muhammad (PBUH) and legislation to decide strict action against those who shape beards in fashionable styles is needed.

    The resolution contends that any kind of styling of the beard is a “grave sin”, and it is an “insult to the beard”. The resolution calls for strict action against those “who make fun of beard”.

    “When I see youngsters on the streets and in the markets with different designs of beard in the name of fashion, I feel hurt, because that is against the teachings of Islam,” she told a private media outlet.

    Federal Minister for Science & Technology Fawad Chaudhry has also reacted to the resolution in the Punjab Assembly.

    This is not the first time that beard designing has been a priority of the ruling elite as barbers have time and again been “strictly barred” from styling customers’ beards in different shapes or clipping them into designs in areas of rural Punjab, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP) and Balochistan.

    KP police in Shabqadar tehsil of Charsadda had in 2019 detained at least four barbers for styling customers’ beards during an unofficial ban imposed by a local traders’ union that had termed such beards “un-Islamic”.

  • Photography obsessed man builds camera-shaped house, names his sons Canon, Nikon & Epson

    Photography obsessed man builds camera-shaped house, names his sons Canon, Nikon & Epson

    A man in Belgaum, India expressed his love for photography by making a house that resembled a camera.

    According to details, Ravi Hongal loved photography ever since he was a child and used to go to the nearby rural areas to take pictures.

    The 49-year-old is so passionate about photography that he even named his sons after the famous camera brands. He named his sons Canon, Nikon and Epson which are also written on the house.

    Ravi spent approximately Rs 15953750 to build the three-story house. The exterior of the house consists of a lens, a flash, a showreel, a memory card and a viewfinder. Also, the ceilings and walls inside the home resemble various parts of the camera.

  • Police arrest man who allegedly gang-raped TikTok friend

    Police arrest man who allegedly gang-raped TikTok friend

    The Lahore Police has arrested a man who allegedly gang-raped a girl with his two accomplices. The two reportedly became friends at a popular video-sharing app, TikTok.

    According to reports, the victim girl filed a complaint at Millat Park police station in Lahore in which she accused three men of gang-raping her.

    In her complaint, the girl stated that she became friends with a boy, Shiraz, through the TikTok app 20 days ago. Shiraz then called her to come to the Samanabad area on June 13. When she reached there, Shiraz asked her to sit in his car. Two men were already sitting in the vehicle.

    The girl said that she was gang-raped by all three men on gunpoint inside the car.

  • Don’t want to step out? Book your sacrificial animal online from these stores

    Don’t want to step out? Book your sacrificial animal online from these stores

    Eid-ul-Adha is only a few days away, and in normal circumstances, we all would have made plans to buy sacrificial animals before coronavirus pandemic happened, but now we have to adapt to the ‘new normal’ and should follow all the SOPs issued by the government and avoid visiting crowded areas. So, if you are not planning to go to the cattle market to buy an animal then here are a few stores where you can book your Qurbani animals online.

    METRO Cash & Carry Pakistan

    https://www.facebook.com/metro.pk/posts/3322357304467612

    Website: https://www.metro.pk/

    Al-Fatah

    https://www.facebook.com/alfatahpk/posts/3096682580384777

    Website: https://www.alfatah.pk/

    Meat One

    https://www.facebook.com/MeatOne/posts/3181169238588386

    Website: http://www.meatone.net/

    ARY Sahulat Bazar

    https://www.facebook.com/arysbpk/posts/4080668311974486

    Website: https://www.arysahulatbazar.pk/

    NOTE: The article is not sponsored. The Current did its own research to write this article.

  • Pakistan to host World Tourism Forum 2021

    Pakistan to host World Tourism Forum 2021

    Special Assistant to the PM for Overseas Pakistanis Chairman National Tourism Board, Sayed Zulfikar Bukhari has announced that World Tourism Forum 2021 will be held in Pakistan.

    Speaking to a private news channel, the PM’s aide said that it will be a five-day event with over 1,000 foreign visitors expected to attend the event.

    “The World Tourism Forum will have three days for conference and two days for tourism”, revealed the SAPM.

    He added that the event had been planned for this year but postponed due to the coronavirus pandemic.

    Bukhari further said that over 32 new three-star to four-star hotels will be constructed in Pakistan in the next two years. He said that the government will renovate PTDC buildings and motels across the country to boost tourism.

    The minister said that the government had shut down Pakistan Tourism Development Corporation (PTDC) operations to restructure it.

    “We are making changes in PTDC to restructure it in accordance with global best practices,” he stated.

    Earlier, Bukhari had said the government would be bringing reforms in the PTDC rather than closing it down.

    The World Tourism Forum is an organisation based in Istanbul, Turkey dedicated to developing tourism around the world with its annual meetings.

  • Foreign students no longer have to leave the US if their classes shift online

    Foreign students studying the United States will no longer be forced to leave the country if their classes shift online after the Trump administration reversed their decision on the matter. The government announced the decision following widespread condemnation of the move and pressure from colleges and major businesses.

    US officials announced last week that international students at schools that had moved to online-only classes due to the coronavirus pandemic would have to leave the country if they were unable to transfer to a college with at least some in-person instruction.

    According to Reuters, the government said it would drop the plan amid a legal challenge brought by universities. But a senior U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS) official said the administration still intended to issue a regulation in the coming weeks addressing whether foreign students can remain in the United States if their classes move online.

    There are more than a million foreign students at U.S. colleges and universities, and many schools depend on revenue from foreign students, who often pay full tuition.

    The July 6 move by the administration blindsided many universities and colleges that were still making plans for the fall semester, trying to balance concerns about rising cases of the novel coronavirus in many U.S. states and the desire to return to classes.

    A flurry of lawsuits were filed challenging the rule, including one brought by Harvard University and Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) and another by a coalition of state governments. Dozens of big companies and colleges and universities filed “friend-of-the-court” briefs opposing the rule.

    Harvard has planned to hold all of its classes online for the upcoming academic year, a decision which President Donald Trump thinks is ridiculous.

    The universities argued the measure was unlawful and would adversely affect their academic institutions.

    In a highly anticipated court hearing on Tuesday in the case brought by Harvard, U.S. District Judge Allison Burroughs in Massachusetts said the U.S. government and the two elite universities that sued had come to a settlement that would roll back the new rules and restore the previous status quo.

    The hearing lasted less than four minutes.

    The controversy began after U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) said it would re-instate rules for international students on F-1 and M-1 visas that limit the number of online courses foreign students can take if they want to remain in the United States. Those rules had been temporarily waived due to the public health crisis.

    The DHS official, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said the details of any future regulation on this issue remain under discussion. In particular, DHS officials are still deciding whether to treat students already in the United States differently than students seeking to enter the country for the first time, according to the official.