The Lahore High Court today has rejected appeals asking for suspension of the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) rally in Lahore tomorrow.
A three-judge bench heard the petitions filed in the LHC regarding permission for PTI’s rally in Lahore.
Justice Tariq Nadeem, while talking to the Chief Secretary, stated, “Those who are ruling today were in opposition in the past, and when they were in opposition, they expressed their concerns. You [Chief Secretary] were in service then and now as well. We need to do good for our country; you should allocate a place for the rally in Punjab. And also allocate two or three places for the party rally in Lahore so people do not face difficulties.”
Justice Tariq Nadeem lamented, “All the bureaucracy has left their work to be in the court today; the world has progressed so much. What message are we giving to the world?”
Meanwhile, Justice Farooq Haider asked IG Punjab Police Dr Usman, “Is the police harassing the political workers of a party?”
The IG replied that nothing of the sort was being done, and no such instructions had been issued to the police.
The LHC rejected appeals to stop the rally and directed the Lahore Deputy Commissioner to decide the venue for the party’s rally by 5 PM today.
South Korean pistol shooter Kim Ye-ji, whose skill and nonchalance won the internet at the Paris Olympics, has landed her first acting role — as an assassin.
The 32-year-old took silver in the women’s 10m air pistol in July and her ultra-calm demeanour, combined with her wire-rimmed shooting glasses and baseball cap, turned her into a worldwide online sensation.
As videos of her shooting went viral, she drew praise from celebrities such as Elon Musk.
“She should be cast in an action movie. No acting required!” Musk wrote on his social media platform X at the time.
Now she will play an assassin in “Crush”, a spinoff short-form series of the global film project “Asia”, a spokesperson for Seoul-based entertainment firm Asia Lab told AFP on Friday.
Kim will star alongside Indian actress and influencer Anushka Sen, the company said in a separate statement, saying it was excited to witness “the potential synergy that will arise from Kim Ye-ji and Anushka Sen’s new transformation into a killer duo”.
Since winning silver, a short clip showing Kim at the Baku World Cup in May has gone viral, spawning fan art, endless memes and multiple edits setting the clip to K-pop.
Kim signed with a South Korean talent agency in August to assist her in managing her extracurricular activities and she has since been featured in a magazine photoshoot for Louis Vuitton.
Founder of Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) Imran Khan on Thursday declared the party’s pre scheduled rally to be held in Lahore on September 21 a do-or-die event.
Speaking to journalists at Adiala jail Rawalpindi, the former Prime Minister said, “The Constitution gives us the right to assemble,” he said, warning that jails will be filled if PTI gets barred from holding the Lahore rally.
He stated, “I ask the nation to come out for their future on September 21 in Lahore.”
Citing the judiciary’s role in society, Khan remarked, “The Supreme Court (SC) is the last institution from which people have expectations. If the SC is also destroyed, Pakistan will become a banana republic.”
Responding to the government’s proposed constitutional amendments, he stated, “To destroy the Supreme Court is to destroy democracy, and to destroy democracy is to destroy freedom. When freedom is destroyed, people become slaves.”
Lambasting President Asif Ali Zardari and Pakistan Muslim League Nawaz (PML-N) supremo Nawaz Sharif, Khan said that both will flee again and stressed that everyone is aware of their money which is lying abroad.
Kabhi Main Kabhi Tum is currently one of the biggest hit dramas in Pakistan, and it is being widely praised for its character development.
Emmad Irfani and Naeem Butt appeared as guests on BBC Urdu recently, where Irfani talked about his off-screen experience.
Emmad said, “Off-screen, we were like a family. Javed Sheikh sahab would bring food, Bushra jee would bring food, and sometimes Badar, our director, would bring food as well. And I’m not exaggerating, but Fahad and I developed a brotherly bond off-screen. Maybe that’s also a factor that the audience is seeing on-screen, the camaraderie we built off-screen is probably showing up on-screen as well.”
On the hand, Naeema Butt, who plays Rubab, is not only getting attention for her acting but also for her long hair.
“I’ve always faced this issue in the industry because of my long hair, and I’ve been told several times that I should cut my hair short in order to look more modern and since it’s simpler to style. Still, I never really followed that advice because, whether I’m in Pakistan or New York, my hair is very special to me”, Naeema Butt added.
Kabhi Main Kabhi Tum is written by Farhat Ishqtiaq and directed by Badar Mehmood. It airs on ARY Digital on Monday and Tuesday at 8:00 PM.
A delegation of the International Cricket Council (ICC) has expressed satisfaction with the arrangements for the Champions Trophy scheduled to be played next year in Pakistan after visiting the country.
The five-member ICC delegation has expressed complete satisfaction with the arrangements for the Champions Trophy scheduled next year after visiting Karachi, Lahore and Rawalpindi stadiums.
Chairman of the Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) Mohsin Naqvi met the ICC delegation (including Senior Manager of Events Sarah Edgar, Security Manager David Musker, and other representatives) to discuss preparations for the mega event. The delegation visited the three stadiums.
On this occasion, Chairman PCB assured the ICC delegation that upgrade work will be completed before the mega event and fool-proof security arrangements would be made for all the teams.
He said, “Organizing the ICC Champions Trophy tournament in Pakistan is an honour. As big as this tournament is, we are finalizing the arrangements accordingly. Players of all teams will enjoy cricket in a peaceful and safe environment. With the upgrade, the stadiums will have international standard facilities, and the fans will enjoy the cricket matches even more than before.”
The Champions Trophy is scheduled in February of next year in Pakistan. This will be a 50-overs format with eight teams participating. All the teams have confirmed their participation except India.
According to Indian media, the team will visit if their government allows them to travel.
The family of slain blasphemy suspect Abdul Ali has forgiven the Quetta police constable who killed him last week while he was in custody.
The police officer had accessed the police station by pretending he was his relative before opening fire on him.
Abdul Ali’s family spoke to the media along with the chief of the Nourzai tribe Haji Faizullah Nourzai who stated, “The family and tribe have nothing to do with the dirty act of blasphemy committed by the suspect.”
The family condemned the slain suspect for alleged blasphemy, saying, “We never hesitate to render our lives in the honour of the Holy Prophet (Peace be upon him).”
“We have pardoned the police official Saad Muhammad Sarhadi in the name of Allah and unconditionally so,” the family said, adding that they would not fight a case against the police official in any court of law.
Senator’s solidarity with the policeman
Jamiat Ulama-e-Islam Pakistan’s senator Abdul Shakoor Khan expressed solidarity with the policeman during a Senate meeting, saying that he would bear all his legal expenses.
“The police officer shot him because he expressed distrust in the legal system,” the senator said. “It is wrong in terms of Shariat and the law.”
“I don’t blame the police official, I blame the legal system,” he said further adding that “we will not tolerate anyone issuing blasphemous remarks against the Holy Prophet”.
Those accused, who should be hanged within 10 hours, undergo trials for months,” Senator Khan opined while speaking on the floor of the upper house.
Previously, it was reported that a policeman in Quetta shot dead an elderly man accused of blasphemy inside a lockup of the Cantt police station.
Abdul Ali, a hotel owner, was detained by the Kharotabad Police after a video went viral on social media on Wednesday and a case was registered against him under Section 295C of the Pakistan Penal Code.
As per the FIR shared by activist Faraz Pervaiz, Abdul Ali was seen speaking in his native language in the video, allegedly making objectionable remarks about Khatm-i-Nabuwwat (finality of prophethood) and the Holy Prophet (PBUH) went viral.
A case was registered against him following the video’s circulation.
Post his arrest, a large number mob gathered outside the Kharotabad police station, demanding that he be handed over to them. The videos of these clashes also went viral on social media.
A senior Quetta police officer told the BBC, “Khorotabad police station was unsafe due to the presence of a large number of protesters, so the accused was transferred to Cantt police station.”
There, a police constable fired at and killed Abdul Ali inside the station.
The cop “suddenly opened fire on the suspect who was in the police lockup,” Inspector General Police Balochistan Moazzam Jah Ansari told Dawn, adding that he used his own pistol.
Reports indicate that the police constable has been identified as Syed Khan Sarhadi by social media users but Dawn reports his name to be Saad Sarhadi, who was arrested, and an investigation is ongoing.
The police stated that instead of transferring Abdul Ali’s body to the civil hospital, the concerned police surgeon had been called to a safe place for post-mortem.
Social media is flooded with videos of locals not allowing the burial of the accused in the cemetry while also coming in to congratulate the father of the policeman who killed Abdul Ali.
It is the first incident of its kind in Quetta, where a serving police officer gunned down a suspect of blasphemy charges while in custody.
Pakistani mixed martial arts (MMA) fighter Shahzaib Rind has made history by becoming Pakistan’s first Karate Combat World Champion.
Rind defeated Brazilian fighter Bruno Roberto De Assis in Singapore by a technical knockout in the third round.
The 26-year-old from Balochistan wrote on Instagram, “Alhamdulillah! I am proud to be the first world champion of martial arts in Pakistan. History has been made! It has been a long and challenging journey, but we did it.
“Thank you to everyone who believed in me and supported my path to success—it means the world to me. I am especially grateful to those who were part of this journey,” he added.
Shahzaib will fight World Karate Combat Lightweight Champion Luiz Victor Rocha in his next fight.
Pakistan’s current account, after witnessing three straight months of deficit, recorded a slight surplus in August 2024.
According to official data from the State Bank of Pakistan (SBP), the current account recorded a surplus of $75 million as compared to $152 million deficit seen in August 2023.
Experts say that the surplus seen in the last month was due the remittances which improved by 40 per cent to $2.9 billion on a Year-on-Year basis. In second month of the ongoing fiscal year, remittances are up by 44 per cent.
Pakistan’s total export of goods and services were valued at $1.108 billion, showing increase of one per cent as opposed to 3.081 billion seen in August 2023.
Considering contributions from the workers, remittances were 40 per cent higher than August 2023.
Analysts are expecting a surplus for the ongoing fiscal year as inflation is predicted to ease further in the coming days and the essential item’s prices may decline further.
If remittances continue to improve with the pace observed in recent months, Pakistan’s current account might be seen in a much better position in near future.
In the Champions One Day Cup, the Stallions defeated the rival Dolphins by a huge margin of 174 runs after a one-sided encounter.
The Stallions scored 271 runs for the loss of 7 wickets in the allotted overs, while Babar Azam scored a magnificent century.
Chasing a target of 272 runs, the Dolphins team was bowled out for just 97 runs. Sahibzada Farhan scored 32 runs, and Asif Ali managed to put up some resistance by scoring 21 runs.
For the Stallions, Mehran Mumtaz and Jahandad Khan took three wickets each, and Abrar Ahmed and Haris Rauf two wickets each.
Norwegian footballer Ole Sæter, who is also eligible to represent the Pakistan team, has reportedly rejected a huge monetary offer of €800,000 from Israeli club Maccabi Haifa FC.
The amount equals more than 24 crore Pakistani rupees
The 28-year-old footballer made it clear that he can not play for a country that is responsible for the loss of innocent lives, citing his principles and values as the reason for this decision.
“Even if I were offered 500 million dollars, I would not join the Israeli club,” Sæter said in an interview with a Norwegian newspaper, asserting that no amount of money is more important than his values.
“Humanity is more important than such money,” he added.
In the past, he shared pictures of himself on social media wearing the Pakistani football team jersey.
Ole’s paternal grandfather is a Pakistani citizen, and based on this relationship, he is also eligible to represent the Pakistan football team as well.
