A man in Sialkot celebrated his wedding by showering US dollar notes on his guests. The video of the incident has gone viral on social media.
According to reports, the incident took place outside a marriage hall in Daska near College Road. The clip went viral on social media as the groom and his friends tossed away the money on the people standing down below.
After pictures of an alcohol brand named ‘Ginnah’ went viral on social media, the Indian media outlets, mostly, have started reporting that the bottle was named after the founder of Pakistan, Muhammad Ali Jinnah.
According to the photos whose veracity is unconfirmed as of now — except that it has garnered many reactions on Twitter — it is a drink “enriched with the essence of randomly selected fresh herb, whole spice and dried fruits”.
Also, the back label of the bottle reads: “Muhammad Ali Jinnah was the founder of Pakistan that came into being in August 1947 as a secular state. Decades later, the country was pushed over the cliff by a military dictator [Gen Ziaul Haq] aided by supporters in Washington D.C.”
It went on to say Jinnah, more commonly known as ‘The Great Leader’, would never have approved of the country Gen Zia turned Pakistan to for the designs of the “clergy”. It also referred to Jinnah’s rather exquisite lifestyle, saying he indulged in gin and whiskey throughout his life.
“In memory of the man of pleasure who he was: ‘Ginnah’,” the bottom of the label reads.
A Twitter user posted photos of the gin named ‘Ginnah’ after the founder of Pakistan, Quaid-e-Azam.
Fashion designer Deepak Parwani wrote: “The world has move on to this #Jinnah.”
While some social media users are still wondering if these photos are legit.
The alcohol in Pakistan was criminalised by PPP founder Zulfikar Ali Bhutto, who came to power in 1970s, to appease the religious lobby. Before that, it was readily available in the big cities of Pakistan. Following Bhutto, Gen Zia made Islamic laws stringent and Pakistan starting moving away from the idea of a modern Muslim state.
Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) leader Ishaq Dar doesn’t own just one property as claimed by him in a BBC News show.
The politician, who is in self-imposed exile for three years now after graft charges were brought against him, owns at least 20 properties in and outside Pakistan. According to the NAB documents and government officials, the N-League senior leader owns a house in Lahore in addition to seven plots.
In Islamabad, the former finance minister owns six acre of land, three plots in AlFalah Housing Society, and two plots in Parliamentarian’s Enclave. He also has a plot in the Senate Cooperative Housing Society.
He also has six bank accounts on his name.
Dar and his wife Tabassum Ishaq have three land cruisers, two Mercedes and one corolla in their name.
During the interview, Dar had claimed that his sons owned a villa in Dubai, but NAB says that Dar also owns two apartments in the United Arab Emirates as well as two luxury vehicles. He also has investments in two companies in Pakistan and three abroad.
DAR ON HARDTALK:
Dar, who is in a self-imposed exile after corruption cases were filed against him, appeared on BBC News to talk about corruption charges, PML-N fight against the government, and NAB.
During the show, the host asked Dar: “Is it your contention that the National Accountability Bureau (NAB) has no integrity? To this, Dar responded that NAB has lost its integrity. “It is an institution that has been used against political opponents.”
Dar said the prime allegation in the Panama Papers Joint Investigation Team report on which the Supreme Court directed NAB to file a reference against him was that he didn’t file his tax returns in Pakistan for 20 years i.e. 1981-2001. Dar said as a chartered account, he had never missed filing his tax returns while living in the UK and North America, as he called these “blatant allegations”.
At this the host asked Dar about the number of properties owned by his family. The PML-N leader responded, “It’s all in my tax returns.”
Upon the insistence of the host, he said: “I have my main residence in Pakistan which has been taken over by this regime… I haven’t got too many properties.”
“How many properties do you and your family own,” the host asked him again. At this, Dar said: “One.” At this, the show host asked him about the news reports in the Pakistan press that claim that the former PML-N minister owned multiple properties in and outside Pakistan. “You are sitting in London and you don’t own anything here,” the host asked Dar.
Dar responded that he doesn’t own any property in London or anywhere else as claimed by the media reports.
However, he went on to admit that his sons recently acquired a villa in Dubai. “They are adult and are in the business for the past 17 years,” he clarified.
Dar, 69, is currently in London, “undergoing medical treatment”. He is absconding from several cases in Pakistan since 2017 and has been declared a proclaimed offender by the courts. He is facing charges of accumulating assets beyond known sources of income.
The Sindh Government has decided to develop 10 potential tourist sites in the province through a public-private partnership.
According to reports, the provincial government will conduct feasibility at 10 such sites across the province to develop them into tourist spots. These areas include Gorakh Hill Station in Dadu district, Ranikot Fort in Jamshoro district, Keenjhar Lake in Thatta, Nagarparkar in Tharparkar, Achhrro Thar in Sanghar, Mohenjo Daro in Larkana, Sehwan, Bhit Shah, Drigh and Langh Lakes in Kambar-Shahdadkot, Lab-e-Mehran / Sadhbelo in Sukkur and coastal belt of the province.
The decision was announced after a meeting of the provincial Tourism and Culture Department, which was chaired by Sindh Chief Secretary (CS) Syed Mumtaz Ali Shah.
Expressing that the province had great tourism potential, the Chief Secretary said: “Sindh government wants to develop facilities for tourists so that tourism can flourish not only at the already existing sites but at several other sites which have so far been neglected.”
Such sites would be surveyed with the help of private sector, he added.
Shah also instructed the Works and Services Department to repair the roads going towards Ranikot and Nagarparkar to make the route for tourists easier.
Sindh Culture and Tourism Secretary Akbar Laghari in his briefing shared that the feasibility study of Lab-e-Mehran and Gorakh Hills had already been done. He added that they also plan to build a theme park at Mohenjo Daro and aim to construct low-cost hotels in the area.
Meanwhile, Prime Minister Imran Khan on Wednesday inaugurated two national parks in Gilgit-Baltistan to protect endangered wildlife and promote eco-tourism in the area.
In another attack on press freedom, an official Twitter handle of Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) Lahore issued a list of ‘bad’ journalists on social media, calling them “anchors/mediamen building narratives for the corrupt”.
“Let take these name loud and clear,” read the tweet with hashtag ‘HardTalkNotCapitalTalk’.
A little context of the tweet: the said hashtag started trending on social media site after an interview of Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz leader Ishaq Dar, wherein he was grilled by Stephen Sackur in his characteristically inquisitorial style.
The trolls subsequently took to Twitter to celebrate the humiliation meted out to Dar and launched attacks on Pakistani mediapersons, especially Hamid Mir who hosts Capital Talk on Geo, for ostensibly being ‘too lenient to the corrupt’ Sharifs and other opposition politicians.
So, who are these ‘bad journalist’ accused by the ruling party of promoting ‘corrupt narratives’? According to the list, Hamid Mir, Asma Shirazi, Naseem Zahra, Najam Sethi, Talat Hussain, Mansoor Ali Khan, Gharidah Farooqi, Javed Ch, and Saleem Safi are the ‘bad journalists’.
Most of the mentioned journalists are critical of government policies and other transgressions.
‘GOOD JOURNALISTS’
But the PTI Lahore account also shared a list of journalists who they thought were “fighting the war of truth and justice” i.e. “good journalists”.
These journalists are Imran Khan, Maleeha Hashmey, Sabir Shakir, Kashif Abbasi, Ghulam Hussain, Sami Ibrahim, Shifa Yousafzai, Mooed Pirzada, Abdul Qadir, and Waqar Malik.
The official handle asked its followers to “appreciate brave and bold journalists fighting the war of truth and justice” instead of the ‘bad’ journalists who promote corruption.
The journalists and media organisations took exception to the tweets by the official handle of the PTI’s Lahore chapter. The Coalition For Women In Journalism condemned the “vicious attacks of PTI trolls against these brave women journalists”.
The list was also condemned by Mansoor Ali Khan, who said such lists put journalists in the harm’s way. Whereas Amber Rahim Shamsi commented on the list of “good journalists”, saying: “When those in power become comfortable with a journalist, it’s because the journalist isn’t asking uncomfortable questions.”
Subsequently, a member of PTI social media issued “apologies”, saying it was done by a “regional account”.
According to Human Rights Watch, “In Pakistan, arbitrary arrest, detention, and baseless criminal prosecutions are used as instruments of press censorship” among other things.
In Aug this year, women journalists released a joint statement on attacks on women in media in Pakistan, which said that vicious attacks through social media were being directed at women journalists and commentators in Pakistan, making it incredibly difficult for them to carry out their professional duties.
In the following month, daughter of late poet Fahmida Riaz, in protest against the alleged abduction and torture of journalists and writers by the state, declined the presidential award that the government had announced for her late mother.
Pakistan International Airlines (PIA) has reduced its fares for domestic flights by 30% to facilitate passengers during the winter holidays. The airline has introduced special fares on domestic flights operating between Karachi, Lahore, Islamabad, Quetta, Faisalabad, Sialkot and Peshawar from December 3 (Thursday) onwards.
Passengers would now be able to travel between these cities on a one-way minimum fare of Rs8,500 and a round trip minimum fare of Rs17,000. Previously, charges were Rs12,275 and Rs24,600 for the same.
PIA Spokesperson Abdullah Khan said that the purpose of discounted fares is to facilitate the people travelling to their homes during holidays. He said people can benefit from these fares on a first come first serve basis.
In an apparent thaw of frosty ties, a delegation of Pakistan Muslim League-Quaid led by Pervaiz Elahi called on Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) President Shehbaz Sharif and vice president Maryam Nawaz to condole the death of Shamim Akhtar.
Akhtar, the mother of Sharif brothers, died in London last month due to respiratory complication and her body was brought to Pakistan last week. Nawaz Sharif, who is in self-imposed exile in London, couldn’t come back due to “health reasons”.
Whereas, the Punjab government released Shehbaz Sharif and his son Hamza Shehbaz on parole to attend the last rites of the Sharif family matriarch.
According to media reports, the PML-Q delegation that called on Sharifs comprised Punjab Assembly Speaker Pervaiz Elahi, Moonis Elahi and Kamil Ali Agha.
On the other hand, Maryam Nawaz, former prime minister Shahid Khaqan Abbasi and other Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) leaders were also present in the meeting.
The meeting between the two parties come at a time when the anti-government campaign against the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) — an ally of PML-Q– spearheaded by the Pakistan Democratic Movement (PDM) is in full swing.
A report in The News had claimed that there have been “informal contacts between the PML-Q and PML-N for cooperation in the Punjab Assembly against the PTI for quite some time”.
The PML-Q is also unhappy with PTI over certain unfulfilled promises and had also skipped a luncheon organised by the prime minister last month. The PM had subsequently visited the PML-Q senior leader Chaudhry Shujaat — who is gravely ill — to salvage the alliance.
Former Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI) director general Lt Gen (r) Asad Durrani has said that the meddling of the military in the political affairs, though a reality, was “detrimental to the country”.
In an interview with BBC Urdu, the former general said whether the army should intervene in politics or not is a debate that has led us nowhere. “Our experience tells us that whenever the military intervened, the political parties ostracised staged a comeback,” Durrani said.
“Gen Ayub Khan was supposed to keep Zulfikar Ali Bhutto out, but he staged a comeback and got elected. After Ziaul Haq, Benazir Bhutto came to power.”
The same thing happened during the regime of Gen (retd) Pervez Musharraf. “The two parties which he thought should be kept out – PPP and PML-N –were elected to power. So, this political engineering is harmful,” he said.
“Imran Khan’s biggest problem is the impression that he did not come to power by himself and that he came with a khaki burden. Some people don’t learn from history because they say we will create our own history,” Durrani added.
The former general also talked about challenges faced by Pakistan on external and internal fronts.
“If you ask me challenges from outside, I would say Iran, Saudi Arabia, and Turkey pose new challenges,” he said. The former ISI chief went on to say that “India has not always been the biggest threat to us”.
“The country is facing three types of challenges: economy, political instability, and social cohesion,” he said.
“There are some areas like Balochistan where there is unrest among people who feel politically alienated and deprived. The economy is in bad shape…. The government’s credibility is bad because people believe it has been brought into power by the military,” he said.
He also opposed the changing of status of Gilgit-Baltistan which, he said, will be a blow to the Kashmir cause.
“When I was looking after the affairs of Kashmir, a close friend of mine, Yusuf, explained to me that the day we made the mistake of changing GilgitBaltistan status, it would be a big blow to our Kashmir cause,” he said but did not explain who Yusuf was.
“You may give more rights to G-B, if you want to, but it should not be forcibly made a province of Pakistan,” said Durrani, while commenting on recent government promises of giving Kashmir the provincial status.
Following are some snippets that stood out from Urdu newspapers on December 3, 2020, which The Current takes no responsibility for.
‘Nawaz Bais-e-Ibrat’
Daily Jang has quoted Prime Minister Imran Khan as saying: “Nawaz aur Zardari per Allah ka azaab aaty dekha, jo hamary lye nishan-e-ibrat ha. Apni zindagi mai dekha ky in ki halat kya hui. Kabhi jail ja rahy hain, kabhi bahir aa rahy hain.”
‘NAB Ko Maanty He Nahi’
JUI-F chief Maulana Fazlur Rehman has refused to appear before NAB, saying the notice sent by NAB has no legal standing. Daily Jang reported: “Jab hum NAB jesy idary ko he tasleem nahi karty tou us ky notice ki bhi koi qanooni heysiat nahi. Aesy nafsiati hathkandoon sy maroub hony wali nahi hum.”
Dubai Py Hamla?
Dunya News has reported that Iran has warned the United Arab Emirates of retaliation if the US used its soil to attack Tehran. According to the newspaper: “Iran ny UAE ko dhamki di ha k Amreeki hamly ki soorat mai Dubai ko nishana bnaya jaye ga.”
A villager named Shahid was tricked into marrying a 70-year old woman by a matchmaker.
As per details, the groom did not get to see her bride until after the wedding. He claimed that the woman he got married to was not the one who the matchmaker had shown them, adding that his family had paid the matchmaker’s fee of Rs 20,000 and had also paid an additional Rs 60,000 to the bride’s family for dowry.
According to the bride Nusrat Bibi, she was dragged into the whole situation when the bride-to-be ran away. Nusrat actually worked as a domestic helper at the home of the girl the matchmaker had promised Shahid as wife.
The groom and his family have registered an FIR against the family of the bride and the matchmaker in order to recover their money. The matchmaker has fled the scene.