The Sui Northern Gas Company has warned that there could be a shortage in severe cold and has issued a few directions for the consumers to follow to avoid any inconvenience.
These include:
Using electric heaters instead of gas heaters
Using electric/instant geyser
Using a geyser timer device with the traditional gas geyser
Gas will be provided during the cooking hours
However, the authority has not revealed cooking hours yet.
A statement issued by SNGPL said that the increase in gas consumption during the winter results in the shortage of gas. A wise approach towards gas consumption can make the situation much better.
Trainee Sub-Inspector Fahad Iftikhar Virk has submitted his resignation after he was abused by Lahore Capital City Police Officer (CCPO) Umer Sheikh for speaking in English, The Current learnt on Thursday.
“I can no longer serve this department,” read his resignation, a copy of which is available with The Current.
Sources in police department said that Virk resigned due to an altercation with CCPO Lahore Umar Sheikh.
“Virk used some words of the English language over which the CCPO lost his temper and reportedly abused him. He called him ‘Angrez ki aulaad‘,” they claimed.
Police sources further said that they are demoralised and demotivated after this incident.
Rapist sympathiser @CcpoLahore apparently abused fahad and his family for talking in English. Ccpo who has still not given reason to Lahore High court and IG punjab why he blamed the rape victim carries on with his filth. Shameful. @OfficialDPRPP#WeStandWithFahadpic.twitter.com/yJNQuwy8nO
This is not the first time that Sheikh has made headlines for all the wrong reasons as earlier this month, he had landed in hot water for victim-blaming after the horrific motorway gang-rape incident.
The Lahore CCPO had earlier remarked that the rape survivor should have been more careful and taken a safer route.
“I am shocked… you are a mother of three and the only driver late at night… [she] should have taken the GT [Grand Trunk] Road instead, which is densely populated,” he had said while speaking to a private media outlet.
Sheikh had further said that the woman should “at least have checked her fuel before taking the motorway”.
He had later apologised amid a strong public reaction.
Statements by Minister for Railways Sheikh Rasheed Ahmed on Wednesday, who claimed Ahsan Iqbal, Khawaja Asif and Shahbaz Sharif had held meetings with Chief of Army Staff (COAS) General Qamar Bajwa and head of the Inter-Services Intelligence, Lieutenant General Faiz Hameed, upset many opposition leaders and prompted the military high-ups to step forward to counter his claims.
Shortly after the All Party Conference (APC) and the directions by Islamabad High Court (IHC) for the government to produce Nawaz Sharif, the railways minister predicted an implosion of the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N), claiming that the process has already started.
He disclosed that some senior politicians of the party had held two meetings with the military leadership. Speaking indirectly, Rasheed seemed to predict a coup or a split. wherein PML-N President Shehbaz Sharif would take over the party.
Rasheed alleged that the arrest warrants and Nawaz Sharif’s anti-establishment statements have caused troubles for the party, a sentiment supposedly held by many members of the PML-N. He predicted that a Shehbaz-led faction will soon arise.
The minister added that PML-N’s senior politicians held two meetings with the military leadership, with the first meeting lasting for five hours. and the second for three. “In one meeting, Khawaja Asif and former interior minister Ahsan Iqbal held an hours long meeting with military leadership while in other meeting Shehbaz Sharif and I sat on same table and ate dinner,” he said.
Pakistan People’s Party (PPP) Chairman Bilawal Bhutto-Zardari at a press conference in Karachi said that those conversations are meant to be confidential, and that certain people need to refrain from revealing their details.
“Whenever there s a national security issue, whether it concerns India, AJK [Azad Jammu and Kashmir], GB [Gilgit-Baltistan], FATA [Federally Administered Tribal Areas], extremism and terrorism, we were, are today and will be together on these in the future,” he said, adding that the PPP and other political parties were approached on September 18 or 19 and invited to a national security briefing on GB.
Bilawal commented that these meeting are officially ‘off-the-record’, and said that he had no choice but to talk about the it “out of helplessness”.
“Some irresponsible persons [Rasheed] who have nothing to do with national security, GB, AJK or foreign policy, and who did not say a word in this meeting, are giving statements on every TV channel these days,” he said.
“I think such actions make national security and foreign policy issues controversial. And whoever’s spokesperson this [person] is, they should immediately ask them to shut up and not say anything irresponsible,” Bilawal said. “You can never be able to create consensus on any issue if such things happen,” he added.
PML-N Ahsan Iqbal denied reports of any one-on-one meeting with army leadership and said that Rasheed was lying about the meeting.
On the other hand, Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) Vice President Maryam Nawaz denied reports of a meeting between Chief of Army Staff (COAS) General Qamar Javed Bajwa and representative of former premier Nawaz. She was at the Islamabad High Court (IHC) for a hearing of an appeal against her conviction in the Avenfield House reference. When asked about the meeting, she said, “I do not know about dinner, maybe it was not a dinner [but] I heard about the meeting.”
She further said political decisions should be made in the parliament and not at the General Headquarters (GHQ).
سیاسی معملات پر جس نے بات کرنی ہے ان کو پارلیمنٹ آنا چاہیے، مسلم لیگ (ن) نائب صدر مریم نواز شریف pic.twitter.com/UuLGy3KWAG
“From what I understand it was called to discuss Gilgit-Baltistan which is a political issue, an issue of the people’s representatives, for them to solve and deliberate upon,” she said.
Maryam said that political issues should be discussed in the parliament and political leadership should be allowed to resolve problems of political nature.
Later, replying to Maryam’s statement, the railways minister remarked, “The day Maryam Safdar starts speaking the truth will be the end of her political career”.
The Pakistan Army finally broke its silence over the controversial statements made about the alleged meetings of political leadership with the military leadership, confirming that the opposition leaders had met with the military top brass twice in past few months.
Inter-Services Public Relations (ISPR) Director-General Major-General Babar Iftikhar told a private television channel that former Sindh governor and Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) leader Mohammad Zubair had met with the army chief not once but twice in past some weeks.
“One meeting was held in the last week of August and the second meeting was held on September 7. ISI DG was also present in both meetings. Both the meetings were held on request made by Mohammad Zubair and in both the meetings, Zubair raised issues regarding Mian Nawaz Sharif sahib and Maryam Nawaz sahiba,” the military’s spokesperson said.
It is good that DG ISPR, has named PML (N) leader who net not once but twice with army chief and discussed Nawaz and Maryam's cases. Zubair's version was too weak. The PML (N) has to come out with explanation or admit NRO request.
“In these meetings, the army chief made it clear to him that the legal issues of both of them would be resolved in Pakistani courts and political issues would be resolved in Pakistani parliament. Army should be kept away from these issues,” the ISPR DG said, adding that he would make no more comments over the issue.
Following ISPR DG’s comments, PML-N leader Muhammad Zubair also confirmed his meetings with the COAS Bajwa.
“Army chief termed matters against the PML-N leaders as legal affairs and said that courts should decide on them,” he said while quoting General Bajwa, and further added that such meetings are held in secret.
I just love how Maryam Safdar keeps exposing herself.
1. Meri London mein tou kia, Pakistan mein bhi koi property nahi
The second meeting was held in the presence of ISI DG, the PML-N leader said. He denied seeking any relief for Nawaz and Maryam during the meetings and said that they discussed political matters.
Zubair claimed that Maryam was unaware of the meetings initially but he later apprised her regarding the contacts made by him. “If I had been seeking relief for Nawaz Sharif and Maryam Nawaz then they would have known prior to the meeting,” Zubair said.
He further expressed his ignorance as to why details regarding the meetings are being conveyed to the media.
Six Pakistani banks have been named in an investigation on the role global banks play in money laundering by Buzzfeed News and the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists (ICIJ), for 29 suspicious transactions close to $2.5 million.
The banks named are Allied Bank, United Bank (UBL), Habib Metropolitan Bank, Bank Alfalah, Standard Chartered Bank Pakistan, and Habib Bank (HBL). All the suspicious transactions took place in 2011 and 2012.
Buzzfeed News had shared with ICIJ more than 2,100 suspicious activity reports, or SARs, filed by global banks to the U.S. Treasury Department’s intelligence unit, the Financial Crimes Enforcement Network, known as FinCEN.
According to the investigation, global banks moved more than $2 trillion between 1999 and 2017 in suspicious payments, and flagged bank clients in more than 170 countries who were identified as being involved in potentially illicit transactions.
Banks file SARs when they believe a client is using services for potential criminal activity, though the filing in itself does not require a bank to stop doing business with a client.
According to the data revealed by ICIJ, 29 such suspicious transactions to and from Pakistan were flagged. Of those, the ‘received’ transactions amounted to $1,942,560, while the ‘sent’ transaction was $452,000.
Allied Bank had 12 suspicious transactions flagged, receiving $1,001170; UBL had eight transactions flagged, receiving $399,620; Habib Metro had two transactions flagged, receiving $74,980; Bank Alfalah had three transactions flagged, receiving $99,480 and sending $452,000; Standard Chartered had four transactions flagged, receiving $199,860; and HBL had one transaction flagged, receiving $167,450.
Out of the 29 transactions, Standard Chartered filed 28 SARs with FinCEN, while The Bank of New York Mellon Corp., filed one. All of these transactions took place between September and December 2012, except for one transaction that took place in November 2011.
In a first, a 3D zebra crossing has been unveiled on Lahore’s Mall Road, it was announced by Commissioner Zulfiqar Ahmed Ghuman, who added that 20 different roads will be getting the same.
In an official statement, the commissioner said that the latest 3D zebra crossing installation was done as part of a bigger plan by Metropolitan Corporation to introduce such crossings across Lahore.
The idea behind the project is to attract attention to the proper usage of a zebra crossing other than the aesthetic value that the project is likely to provide, according to the commissioner. The novel zebra crossing has been designed as per international standards according to the commissioner.
According to reports, 3D zebra crossings have been used worldwide in different countries, including Thailand, China, the United States (US), and the United Kingdom (UK). These crossings have proved to be very effective as they create an automatic caution among the drivers.
Zebra crossings are an integral part of traffic and its rules. However, in Pakistan, these crossings have slowly vanished from most roads.
The Indian government has barred Sikh pilgrims from travelling to Gurdwara Darbar Sahib in Kartapur to take part in the 481st death anniversary rituals of Baba Guru Nanak.
Pakistan in June had informed India that it was ready to reopen Kartarpur Corridor and invited New Delhi for a discussion on protocols for the safe visit of pilgrims during the COVID-19 pandemic.
The decision was taken after many Sikh pilgrims had started arriving from across the world to attend the event.
The Foreign Office (FO) also wrote two letters to its Indian counterpart regarding the arrival of Sikh pilgrims in Pakistan through the corridor. The first letter was written on June 27 and the second on August 27, but New Delhi did not respond to either.
The pilgrims have been taking part in the 481st death anniversary of Baba Guru Nanak at Kartarpur for the past three days. Tuesday was the last day of the event.
Punjab Information Minister Fayazul Hasan Chohan has made headlines again. Not for his comments about the opposition’s all parties conference (APC) in a video message from Monday afternoon, but for getting it recorded with an assault rifle in the background.
The video shows the weapon, which appears to be an M16A4 assault rifle, leaning against the wall.
According to Chohan, the gun is licensed and he carries it with him and keeps it at his office because he has been receiving death threats.
“I received a letter from terrorists threatening my life two months back,” he told SAMAA TV. “There are three other guns in my office and all of them are for security and are licensed.”
He said the person behind the camera, who was one of his office staff, forgot to remove the gun. “I didn’t see the video myself because I had to rush for a meeting after the recording,” the minister added.
WATCH VIDEO:
The guns are usually hidden under the table in the minister’s office.
PENALTY?
According to Section 11B of the Pakistan Arms Ordinance, 1965, “the carrying or display of arms at fairs or in gatherings or processions of a political, religious, ceremonial or sectarian character or in the premises of courts of law or public offices” is prohibited.
Noncompliance can result in the suspension or cancellation of the weapons’ licence, fines and imprisonment for at least seven years.
ARREST DEMANDED:
Earlier, Chohan said that the APC was “nothing but an attempt to protect corruption and find more chances to plunder public money”.
While the minister spoke at length against rival Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) and the Pakistan People’s Party (PPP), opposition members have hit back at Chohan with the demand for his arrest.
PPP lawmaker from Punjab, Syed Hassan Murtaza, demanded that Chohan be arrested for display of weapon in his video message.
Murtaza stated that displaying a gun in a video message by a provincial minister was tantamount to threatening political rivals, adding that a common citizen would have been arrested and tried for such a vieo.
“It is strange how ‘non-political’ police have not taken any action against the minster so far.”
Senior journalist Ansar Abbasi has drawn the ire of several netizens for urging Prime Minister (PM) Imran Khan, Federal Minister for Information Shibli Faraz and Special Assistant to PM (SAPM) on Information Lt Gen (r) Asim Bajwa to take notice of a woman exercising on state-owned Pakistan Television (PTV) News.
As per the details, Abbasi, who is known for being critical of liberal activists, on Monday tweeted a poorly-recorded video of a TV screen that showed a woman, accompanied by a male instructor, exercising.
“If Even an exercise session and women picture on advertisement boards makes you feel amorous, you really need psychic therapy and advice….. [sic],” said former information minister and incumbent Federal Minister for Science and Technology Fawad Chaudhry while quoting the journalist’s tweet.
If Even an exercise session and women picture on advertisement boards makes you feel amorous, you really need psychic therapy and advice….. https://t.co/1Xb9tDwr5R
The federal minister was, however, not the only one who strongly reacted to the journalist’s statement.
Only someone with a sick mind would imply that a video of a woman exercising is in some way inappropriate. Seek psychological counselling, and in the meantime stop watching television or leaving your house for that matter.
And what exactly is wrong with this? She is just working out. What kind of sick pervert sees anything sexual in it? Abbasi sahib, seriously, you need to get a life. Puhleeeeez 🙏🏾
I don’t want 2 respond to the troll. You have been doing Islamic shows &thus expect from u to enlighten ur followers about what Allah Almighty says in Quran. To be precise perhaps it’s Ayat 31 of Sura e Noor.Can v still justify promoting this on national TV of an Islamic country? https://t.co/evn6ovQPGt
Bilkul Theek kaha aapne I’m very sorry Ansar bhai. Also on a side note You missed Ayat 30. “مومن مردوں سے کہہ کہ اپنی نگاہیں نیچے رکھیں۔ ,instead you shared this video and now so many men only saw this because of you. Ab aap delete karden please taakay or log gunaahgar naa hon. https://t.co/XPGpZHtuPH
After Federal Minister for Railways Sheikh Rasheed Ahmed, Federal Minister for Communications Murad Seed has also confirmed that parliamentary leaders had met the military leadership and discussed matters related to the country, to which the army had stressed that it should be kept away from political parties’ matters.
“They target institutions and then ask for time for meetings,” Saeed said, referring to opposition leaders. He had said that the clear message from the military leadership was to “not involve the military in politics”.
According to reports, the military had conveyed clearly that the army was “not involved, directly or indirectly, in any political process of the country”.
“If the need arises, the army will stand with the civilian government,” a senior military official had told parliamentary leaders in the meeting.
The meeting was attended by Chief of Army Staff (COAS) General Qamar Javed Bajwa and Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI) Director-General Lt Gen Faiz Hameed. Gilgit-Baltistan’s (GB) administrative affairs were also on the meeting’s agenda.
The military leadership had told the civilians that the army was not involved in either electoral reforms or problems related to the National Accountability Bureau (NAB) and other political matters. It had also told them that it was the responsibility of the political leadership to work out such matters between themselves.
A gang of half-naked robbers consecutively looted five houses in one night spreading panic among residents of Khushab.
Police said five half-naked dacoits have robbed five houses in the city’s Azeem Town, Gulshir Town, Shehzad Town, and Canal Rest House areas last night.
“The gang applied mustard oil on their bodies to escape the police arrest.”
In a CCTV video shared on media, they can be seen firing in the air after the robberies.
Police further said that cases have been registered against the culprits and that a search to apprehend them is underway.
