Current Final

Category: Politics

  • ‘Girl had come to take her exams’: SSP Islamabad on the Usman Mirza case

    Senior Superintendent of Police (SSP) Investigation Atta-ur-Rehman has shared details about the girl and the boy who were harassed by Usman Mirza and other culprits. He shared the details in TV programme, ‘Mad-e-Muqabil’ with anchorpersons Rauf Klasra and Amir Mateen.

    The police officer said that they traced the couple and reached out to them for investigation and assured them that the state, media and people are with them and asked them to cooperate, after which the couple recorded their statement.

    He further shared that the girl was from Lahore, and she came to Islamabad to give an exam, and the boy present in the video was her fiance who helped her with the accommodation by asking his friend for his apartment for a day.

    Usman Mirza and gang showed up at the apartment when the boy stepped out to buy groceries and harassed the girl. The police say they will try to take the case to its logical conclusion.

    SSP, while answering a question, said that Usman Mirza was allegedly drunk and he was armed, which is why it was difficult for anyone to rescue the couple.

    The incident happened in November last year probably, shared SSP Atta-ur-Rehman, adding that the couple got married later with the consent of both families.

    A video went viral on social media recently in which Usman Mirza was seen torturing, harassing, and assaulting a young couple in Islamabad along with his accomplices. Mirza was arrested after the video went viral. His accomplices have also been arrested.

  • Early signs of fourth Covid wave in Pakistan, warns Asad Umar

    Federal Minister for Planning Asad Umar Friday said there are clear early signs of the fourth Covid-19 wave starting in Pakistan due to poor compliance of SOPs and the spread of the Delta variant.

    The federal minister, who is also the chief of the National Command and Operation Centre (NCOC), said that he had warned two weeks back that the government’s artificial intelligence models are showing possible emergence of the fourth wave in July.

    Asad Umar added that field reports were showing a complete disregard of the condition of vaccination for those attending indoor weddings, and going to indoor restaurants and gyms.

    “If the owners of these facilities do not show responsibility and ensure compliance, there will be no choice but to shut them down,” said Umar.

    Pakistan recently recorded a positivity rate of 3.27 per cent. The last time the positivity rate was 3 per cent was in June.

    The present positivity rate of the virus is 3.6 per cent.

    Asad Umar expressed displeasure over non-compliance with the Covid-19 protocols and warned of shutting down sectors not adhering to the directives issued by the health authorities.

  • An alcoholic concoction takes over KPK, becoming a new cause of death

    After the General Atomics US ‘Predators’ and ‘Reapers’, the unmanned aerial vehicles that caused death in the tribal regions, now an alcoholic concoction is becoming a new cause of death in Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa (KPK).

    The alcoholic drink is aptly named, ‘Drone’, concocted by moonshiners in the remote Tirah Valley of the Khyber tribal district, which was once infamous for militancy and poppy cultivation. “The ingredients of this alcoholic drink are easily available over-the-counter drugs, syrups, and cold drinks,” reports The Express Tribune.

    A Tirah-based doctor confirmed that the brew originated in Tirah and escalated quickly to the settled districts of KP. “It has been given this funny name because it instantly makes you high and you start feeling light,” the doctor said, while speaking to The Express Tribune on the condition that he would not be identified.

    Economic depression and instability have reportedly led to an increase in the use of ‘Drone’ – a cure-all elixir – by the youth in the area.

    “Several kinds of sleeping tablets are dissolved in a popular soft-drink along with two types of sedative cough syrups, along with easily available cheap drugs to make this drink, which is sold for a few hundred rupees,” the doctor said.

    However, the explosive flooding of the drink prompted distress among members of the local Aman Committee who had to announce a ban on certain cough syrups to rein in the uncontrolled spread of the drugging drink.

    “Any shopkeeper found selling these cough syrups will be penalised with a fine – and a warning.”

  • Faisal Vawda case ‘a waste of time’, says petitioner

    Faisal Vawda case ‘a waste of time’, says petitioner

    Talking to The Current, Pakistan People’s Party’s (PPP) Qadir Mandokhel said that he has been pursuing a petition against Faisal Vawda for 2 years 9 months. “Now it’s just a waste of time.”

    Mandokhel gave the example of an illegal building and a petition against it. “Agar building hee masmaar kar di toh kya faida abb iska” (If the illegal building has been demolished, what’s the use of pursuing a case against it). Mandokhel is referring to the fact that Vawda is no longer an MNA but a Senator now.

    Mandokhel says he has high hopes from Sindh High Court where the petition on senatorship is still pending. Mandokhel says he wrote to the US Consulate but he was told by them that they do not reply to individual queries.

    Mandokhel says Vawda hasn’t submitted his reply and questions why. He also questioned why the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) is not doing much about this case.

    On Thursday, none of the petitioners appeared before the ECP, meanwhile, Faisal Vawda did.

    Vawda, while talking to senior journalist Matiullah Jan, seemed confident and said, “This seems more of a political case, and a political case has no standing. Everyone seems to have backed off for now.”

    “The ECP is fully looking into the details of my case and is also providing me with a lot of chances to my rivals. But my all rival parties have disappeared,” added Vawda.

    The ECP has three petitions related to the disqualification of Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf’s (PTI) Faisal Vawda, who is a former member of the National Assembly as well as a recently-elected Senator. The commission is yet to make a decision.

    Petitioners against Vawda contend that he had dual citizenship when he filed his nomination papers in the 2018 general elections, a fact that he had concealed at the time. Therefore, they say that he should be disqualified.

  • CM Punjab’s aide harasses man by sending him sexually explicit videos

    CM Punjab’s aide harasses man by sending him sexually explicit videos

    A sessions court in Islamabad on Thursday ordered registration of a first information report (FIR) against Special Assistant to Punjab Chief Minister on Investment Sardar Tanveer Ilyas for harassing a man through WhatsApp and sending him “sexually explicit videos”, reports Dawn.

    The orders were issued by Additional Sessions Judge Muhammad Ata Rabbani while hearing a petition filed by complainant Khawaja Faheem.

    According to the petitioner’s counsel, Imran Feroz Malik, his client met Ilyas at the Centaurus Mall in October 2019 during the launching ceremony of a private project. Ilyas who according to the petitioner is the owner of Centaurus Mall, invited him to his residence for Iftar dinner which Faheem accepted considering it a business meeting.

    Following the meeting, the CM’s adviser sent a few messages along with “sexually explicit videos” to Faheem from his WhatsApp number, which the latter found disturbing, and which caused him “mental agony and trauma”, according to his lawyer.

    He reported the matter to the Federal Investigation Agency’s (FIA) Cyber Crime Cell, Faheem’s lawyer said.

    After the case was taken to the sessions court by the complainant, the FIA submitted its reply, saying the forensic analysis was conducted on the mobile phone of the petitioner and it transpired he had in fact received the video.

  • Mufti Taqi Usmani escapes knife attack in Karachi

    Mufti Taqi Usmani escapes knife attack in Karachi

     Mufti Taqi Usmani survived a knife attack on Thursday after his guards arrested a man carrying a knife. 

    Usmani was walking with his guards by his side after Fajr prayers at Dar ul Uloom Korangi when a suspicious man started to follow him. 

    The scholar’s guards captured the suspect, who has been identified as a 35-year-old man named Asim Laeeq. It was found that Asim was carrying a knife, confirmed Dar ul Uloom sources. 

    SSP Korangi Shahjahan said the suspect did not attack Usmani. He said the suspect had asked for a meeting with the scholar after Fajr prayers. 

    “The suspect has been taken into custody, we are continuing with further investigation into the incident,” said SSP Korangi. 

    Shortly after the incident, Mufti Taqi Usmani released an audio message in which he confirmed most details of the incident, reassuring his followers that he is safe. 

    “A suspect came to me after the Fajr prayers and asked to speak to me in private,” he said. “I had just gotten up to speak to him when the suspect pulled out a knife from his pocket,” revealed the scholar. 

  • #ArrestUsmanMirza case: ‘Our concern is to protect the boy, girl from danger’: Islamabad Police

    #ArrestUsmanMirza case: ‘Our concern is to protect the boy, girl from danger’: Islamabad Police

    Four people were arrested in connection with Usman Mirza in Islamabad after a disturbing video went viral on social media where he could be seen torturing and assaulting a couple. He was also seen stripping the woman in the video.

    After the arrest of Usman Mirza, the police further investigated the case which led to the tracing of others.

    The incident had occurred in an apartment on E-11/2, the police stated. The flat was in possession of a property dealer from whom the boy had taken its key, the officers said. The six suspects also had a key to the flat and they followed the couple there, reports Dawn.

    The police later traced the boy and asked him for his statement on the incident but so far he was not willing to do so, the officer said, adding that, “the boy is so frightened that he refused to give a statement and become a complainant in the case, saying the suspects would kill him and his family”.

    Police also reached out to the girl but she refused as well, they added.

    When police officials, DIG operations, and SSP operations were contacted by Dawn, they said an investigation had been launched to establish the facts.

    About the safety of the girl and the boy, they said efforts and arrangements were being made to take them in protective custody as chances of suicide and honour killing cannot be ruled out.

    “Our concern is also to protect the boy and the girl from all risks and danger,” they added. A special investigating team has been constituted to probe the incident, they added.

  • ‘Won’t go to any private function with protocol to save taxpayer money’, PM Khan

    ‘Won’t go to any private function with protocol to save taxpayer money’, PM Khan

    Announcing on Twitter, PM Khan has decided that to save taxpayers’ money, the prime minister will not go to any ‘private function with protocol and security. He also stated that he is reviewing protocol guidelines for ministers, governors, and PTI Chief Ministers to decide how expenditure can be reduced.

    He also tweeted that in the coming days, his “Cabinet will decide on a comprehensive policy in this regard”.

    “We will put an end to the colonial legacy of pomp & glory used to overwhelm the people.”

    Speaking to the Gwadar business community earlier this week, when visiting Balochistan, the Prime Minister said if it wasn’t for his sincere intentions, he would be spending summers in London and shopping from Harrods since he did not win the election from the province.

    Twitter reacted to the series of tweets, with some supporting the PM’s move and others saying that as the prime minister, Khan needed added security.

  • ‘PM Khan not a press freedom predator’, says govt

    ‘PM Khan not a press freedom predator’, says govt

    Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) government has strongly rejected the Paris-based media watchdog’s report, which lists Prime Minister Imran Khan among the world’s 37 worst rulers when it comes to press freedom.

    The angry reaction from Khan’s government came in response to a report by Reporters Without Borders titled, “Press freedom predators gallery — old tyrants, two women, and a European,” reports Associated Press (AP).

    Pakistan’s Information Ministry in a statement on Tuesday rejected the allegations, saying Khan’s government believed in “freedom of expression and media independence”.

    In a statement, the ministry said it was surprising that Reporters Without Borders “has jumped to the conclusion” that media in Pakistan are under draconian censorship measures by Khan’s government. It said the government has been “taking all possible measures to create a congenial environment for journalists to perform their professional obligations”.

    “It appears that the report that (Reporters Without Borders) has issued is an attempt to malign the elected representative of the people of Pakistan, without any corroborative evidence,” the ministry said.

    The ministry said it hoped that the watchdog in the “future will avoid such irresponsible journalism”.

    Reporters Without Borders has published a gallery of grim portraits on its official website. It includes 37 heads of state or government who crack down massively on press freedom. Some of these “predators of press freedom” have been operating for more than two decades while others have just joined the blacklist, which for the first time includes two women and a European predator.

  • ‘Dilip Kumar was the greatest actor’: Imran Khan and senior politicians express their grief

    Prime Minister Imran Khan has expressed his grief over the death of legendary actor Dilip Kumar.

    He tweeted, “Saddened to learn of Dilip Kumar’s passing. I can never forget his generosity in giving his time to help raise funds for SKMTH when project launched. This is the most difficult time – to raise first 10% of the funds & his appearance in Pak & London helped raise huge amounts. For my generation Dilip Kumar was the greatest and most versatile actor.”

    Imran Khan on his Instagram account also shared an old picture with Dilip.

    Other senior Pakistani politicians also expressed their sorrow on the demise of the veteran actor:

    Earlier, today legendary Bollywood actor Dilip Kumar passed away at the age of 98. Known as the tragedy king of Indian cinema, he acted in over 65 films as a leading hero. The Devdas actor made his acting debut in 1944 with Jwar Bhata.