Current Final

Category: Politics

  • New Indian channel promises to present ‘only good news’

    New Indian channel promises to present ‘only good news’

    India’s leading TV Channel, India Today has launched a Hindi-language TV channel that promises to present only “good news.”

    The latest channel named ‘Good News Today’ “will showcase stories of hope, human triumph, innovation and inspiration from different walks of life, from different parts of India and the world,” India Today Group vice-chairperson Kalli Purie told Arab News.

    “We need to spread positivity, good stories and personalities no matter what the reality is,” she added.

    According to Purie, the slogan of this channel is Achi Khabar, Sachi Khabar (good news, authentic news).

    The country’s position has been falling rapidly on the World Press Freedom Index by Reporters Without Borders. In 2016, it was 136th, but in 2020 it dropped to 142nd.

    Based in Uttar Pradesh (UP), India Today is a 24-hour English language television and has one of the largest viewerships in India. In addition, India has more than 160 national and regional news channels.

  • Pakistan lowers Covid vaccination eligibility age to 15

    Pakistan lowers Covid vaccination eligibility age to 15

    The government has officially decided to further lower the Covid vaccination eligibility age to 15 years, reported Geo News.

    Children between the ages of 15 and 18 will be vaccinated with the Pfizer vaccine, the National Command and Operations Centre (NCOC) said.

    According to the NCOC, Pfizer vaccine will be available at all central vaccination centres across the country. Moreover a registration certificate will be required for children up to the age of 18 to be vaccinated.

    In combating the pandemic, the NCOC has also taken another step by sending mobile vaccination teams to visit schools and colleges for vaccination.

    Meanwhile, NCOC has said that all those people whose second dose against Covid-19 has become due are not required to wait for the sms message and can visit any vaccination centre throughout the week.

    A day earlier, NCOC head Asad Umar had announced on Twitter that more than 20 million people in Pakistan are now fully vaccinated against coronavirus.

    Pakistan has administered at least 66,456,245 doses of Covid vaccines so far. Assuming every person needs two doses, that’s enough to have vaccinated about 15.3 per cent of the country’s population.

  • HRW releases report on 9/11 calling US to end global war on terror

    Human Rights Watch (HRW) has released a report on September 11, 2001, attacks in the United States titled, ‘9/11 Unleashed a Global Storm of Human Rights Abuses’.

    The report says, “The brutal rulers [US leaders] figured out that the best way to get away with mass abuse was to label it a fight against terrorism.”

    Furthermore it states, “The war paradigm was also used to justify killing suspects wherever they were found, often on the flimsiest of evidence. However, international human rights law requires law enforcement officials to arrest suspects whenever possible and to use lethal force only as a last resort to stop an imminent threat to life.”

    “They [US] not only mistreated the people of Afghanistan but its citizens also had to face discrimination. Globally, Muslims are the primary victims of terrorism. The US has always treated ‘presumed terrorists’ as combatants,” the report reads.

    HRW also has discussed the ill-treatment of one million Uyghurs in Xinjiang, China and the bombings on Gaza by Israel.

    “It is a time to condemn the evil of terrorism. It is also the time to close Guantanamo, by releasing all of the 39 aging detainees still there, who have not been charged and giving the rest a fair trial in a proper court,” the report concluded.

    People from all over the world remembered the horrifying episode today on social media, while some of them share their stories.

    Since 2001, the notorious military prison at Guantanamo has become a symbol of US human rights abuses. Many detainees — mostly Muslim men — were tortured or held for years and even decades without charges, trials, or basic legal rights.

    The 9/11 attacks are the deadliest terrorist attacks on American soil in US history. It was a series of airline hijackings and suicide attacks committed by 19 militants associated with al-Qaeda.

  • ‘They need to hold their tongue’, Saad Rafique demands action over Azam Swati’s ‘threats’ against ECP

    ‘They need to hold their tongue’, Saad Rafique demands action over Azam Swati’s ‘threats’ against ECP

    Addressing a press conference in Lahore, the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz’s (PML-N) leader Saad Rafique, said while referring to Federal Minister for Railways Azam Khan Swati’s accusation on the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) of taking bribes and being on the payroll of ‘someone’ said: “They need to hold their tongue.”

    “If the government is making such threats, it is the responsibility of Pakistan’s civil society and political parties to fulfill their responsibility and their voice [against such verbal attacks],” he reiterated.

    PML-N leader further added that the relevant institutions, whose responsibility was to serve justice, should take notice of action over threats made against the ECP.

    A day earlier, Swati said that the ECP was responsible for destroying Pakistan’s democracy and for rigging all elections. Swati added that such institutions should be “set on fire”. This happened when the Senate Standing Committee on Parliamentary Affairs met today to vote on two key election bills.

  • Banned by govt, TLP actively takes part in Cantonment Board polls

    Banned by govt, TLP actively takes part in Cantonment Board polls

    Months after being banned by the government, the Tehreek-e-Labbaik Pakistan (TLP) fields 84 candidates in 17 of the 41 cantonments, reports Dawn.

    Polling will be held on Sunday (tomorrow) to elect general members of the Cantonment Boards.

    A list of candidates of all the 219 wards shows that the ultra-rightwing TLP has fielded the largest number of 57 candidates in nine cantonments of Punjab, followed by 24 in six cantonments of Sindh and three candidates in two cantonments of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province.

    The party, however, has not fielded any candidate in any of the nine wards of the three cantonments in Balochistan.

    Federal Minister for Information Fawad Chaudhry, while speaking to Dawn, said that only the Supreme Court had the authority to disqualify a political party from contesting the elections.

    He was of the opinion that the ban placed on the TLP was an administrative step. “There are two phases — one is administrative and the other is judicial. Until the judicial phase is not complete, the party cannot be stopped from participating in the elections,” explained Fawad.

    However, the minister criticised the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) for not holding any investigations to find TLP’s source of funding when the commission was swift enough to check the accounts of ruling Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) and the two major Opposition parties.

  • ‘Don’t worry’, Zakir Jaffer tells his son after Zahir beheads Noor

    The investigation report of Islamabad police submitted to the trial court in Noor Mukadam case has revealed that Noor Mukadam missed six life-saving possibilities due to Zahir Jaffer’s accomplices’ active connivance, Dawn has reported.

    “Her life could have been saved had the accomplices acted otherwise,” the challan stated.

    Noor’s attempt to escape twice was failed due to the connivance of the security guard and a gardener.

    The challan further stated that Zahir contacted his father 4 times on July 20, and Zakir Jaffer knew about the illegal detention and the situation at their home.

    “You need not worry, I can handle this, I am sending people to rescue you and to dispose of the dead body,” Zakir said to Zahir after he beheaded Noor. Zahir was scheduled to fly to the US on July 19. The police today also submitted the list of 18 witnesses in the case.

    The challan also stated that Zahir had confessed to killing Noor and a DNA report confirmed she was raped.

    Referring to prime accused Zahir’s statement, the challan states: Noor came to Zahir’s house on July 18, and on July 20 they both got into a fight after Noor refused to marry Zahir, and Zahir then detained her in a room, and Noor warned him of consequences.

    On the day of the murder, Zahir made calls to his parents at 2:21pm, 3pm, 6:35pm and 7:29pm.

    Noor’s family was informed about her murder on July 20 at 10:00pm by Kohsar police.

  • Shafqat Mahmood welcomes criticism on SNC, assures change

    Shafqat Mahmood welcomes criticism on SNC, assures change

    Federal Minister for Education Shafqat Mahmood tweeted that he is grateful for the views, both negative and positive, on Single National Curriculum (SNC). He added that curriculums and textbooks are not static and need constant updating.

    “I am grateful for the views, both negative and positive, on the single national curriculum (SNC) and on the textbooks developed to implement it,” wrote the minister.

    Punjab Education Minister Dr Murad Raas reacted to the criticism following the implementation of SNC. He tweeted that he would be conducting a live session on Sunday to answer questions related to SNC.

    Earlier, Sharmeen Obaid-Chinoy came forward and criticised the new curriculum. In addition, SNC is also receiving criticism on social media.

    According to the new curriculum, schools will be free to teach additional material or even additional subjects. In the beginning, three subjects — Islamic Studies, Social Studies and General Knowledge — will be taught in the Urdu language at the primary level (Grade 1-5). Quranic learning with translation will also be mandatory in Grade 6-12.

    Mahmood had earlier announced the SNC would be implemented from the new academic session on August 2 in all public and private schools as well as madrassah of Punjab.

  • UN investigation wanted for Kashmiri leader Syed Ali Geelani’s death

    UN investigation wanted for Kashmiri leader Syed Ali Geelani’s death

    Chairman of Parliamentary Committee on Kashmir Shehryar Khan Afridi wrote letters to United Nations (UN) Secretary-General Antonio Guterres and High Commissioner of the United Nations Human Rights Council (UNHRC) Michelle Jeria, calling for an impartial but immediate UN investigation into the custodial killing of Hurriyat leader Syed Ali Shah Geelani, reports Dawn.

    Talking to reporters, Afridi said, “Hurriyat leaders are being killed in custody by the illegal occupational regime of India in Jammu and Kashmir under the garb of the Covid-19 pandemic. Had the UN investigated the custodial murder of Ashraf Khan Sehrai, Geelani’s life could have been saved. Now we fear that other imprisoned Kashmiri leaders including the new All Parties Hurriyat Conference (APHC) chief Massarat Alam Bhat, Syed Shabbir Shah, Yasin Malik, Asiya Andrabi, Dr Qasim Faktu, and others may also be killed the same way.”

    “This loss may turn out to obstruct Kashmiri people’s voice and compromise their long struggle for freedom. I would also like to bring to attention here the matter in which Geelani’s death was handled by the occupational Indian government where they shut down the internet across the Kashmir valley and beefed-up security forces when word of his death spread,” he said.

    Veteran Kashmiri leader and freedom fighter Syed Ali Shah Geelani was laid to rest on September 2 amid high security at Hyderpora in Srinagar.

    Syed Ali Geelani’s son told AP that the family had planned the burial at the main Martyrs’ Graveyard in Srinagar as per his will but were disallowed by the police.

    “They snatched his body and forcibly buried him. Nobody from the family was present for his burial. We tried to resist but they overpowered us and even scuffled with women,” said his son Naseem Geelani.

  • ‘More than half of Pakistanis dissatisfied with govt’s performance on all issues,’ survey reveals

    A survey conducted by lpsos has revealed that “More than half of Pakistanis are dissatisfied with federal government’s performance on all issues.”

    Key results of the survey:

    1 in 2 Pakistanis seem unhappy with the federal government’s performance on dealing with COVID-19; males, top elite, Sindh and Balochistan are even more dissatisfied

    Only 1 in 4 Pakistanis consider the PTI regime to have succeeded in eradicating corruption in Pakistan

    Majority (62%) Pakistanis expressed dissatisfaction with the PTI government’s performance on controlling inflation:

    Majority (53%) Pakistanis are dissatisfied with PTI’s delivery on providing justice, dissatisfaction even higher in less educated Pakistanis.

    Only 1 in 5 Pakistanis think that the current government has been able to eradicate poverty. Same trend prevalent across all segments and provinces:

    The sample size of the survey was 1020, and “random CATI interviews (Computer-assisted telephone interviewing )” were conducted between August 26 to September 2, 2021. The survey was named, “PTI’s three years in Federal Government.

  • Pakistan may send experts to replace Afghan brain drain

    Pakistan may send experts to replace Afghan brain drain

    Federal Minister for Finance and Revenue Pakistan, Shaukat Tarin has said that Pakistan may have to send experts to Afghanistan because of the country’s major experts have left the country which has complicated the Taliban’s administration, reports The News.

    While giving an extensive briefing to the Senate Standing Committee on Finance on Thursday, Mr Tarin said that the government was building up strategic reserves of essential food commodities to meet domestic as well as Afghanistan’s requirements.

    According to him, “they [Afghanistan} require assistance and we may have to dispatch experts because of the brain drain in Afghanistan. The situation is fluid and we are analysing it. The West has stopped foreign reserves of Afghanistan to the tune of $10 billion, as the IMF has stopped $400 million and many others so Kabul will be facing a scarcity of foreign exchange. Our bilateral trade will surge but we may have to undertake bilateral trade in the Pak rupee.”

    Talking about Pakistan’s economic situation he stated, “Pakistan’s trade deficit stands at $4 billion and remittances are hovering around $2.5 billion.”

    “On tax revenue, FBR revenues are ahead of target by 23 percent. The track and trace system will be placed for five major sectors. The Point of Sale (POS) will integrate receipts and standardised and frivolous notices will be withdrawn,” he assured.

    More than 120,000 people evacuated from Afghanistan are qualified professionals from civil servants to lawyers.

    Michael Barry, a specialist on Afghanistan who taught at the American University in Kabul, said that many members of the Taliban are from rural areas and lack the knowledge to run the state bureaucracy, as per Agence France-Presse (AFP).