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  • Sarim Burney admits to wrongdoing in human trafficking case

    Sarim Burney admits to wrongdoing in human trafficking case

    The Federal Investigation Agency (FIA) has said that social worker Sarim Barney has admitted to making a mistake in his initial statement in a human trafficking case.

    His wife Aliya may also be investigated in the case in the coming days.

    An FIR has been registered against the social activist running a Welfare Trust in Karachi by the Human Trafficking Cell of FIA on charges of trafficking of children from Pakistan to America.

    The present charge includes the smuggling of a newborn girl named Haya to America. The girl was allegedly bought from her parents for 1 million rupees. Sarim Burney and his acquaintances assisted in the transfer.


    The girl’s parents are poor, and their statement has been recorded by FIA.


    Geo’s Afzal Nadeem Dogar reports that more than 15 girls, along with other children, have been smuggled this way.


    American crime agencies are also investigating Sarim Burney. His records of the children he transferred to America have been provided to the FIA officials from the embassy.

    FIA officials state that Sarim Burney’s wife is also a beneficiary in the documents of the trust. After verification by the Sindh government, Alia Sarim Burney will also be named in the case.


    More cases of child trafficking and money laundering will be registered against Sarim Burney, FIA told Geo.

    Burney is accused of trafficking more than 25 children to the US and illegally getting them adopted in the country, as per FIA. He has also been accused of fraud and falsification of documents, said the agency.


    Sarim was placed under surveillance by US authorities during his recent visit to the US and was questioned twice.

    Earlier today, the FIA said that the social worker admitted “wrongdoing” in the human trafficking case against him in the wake of his arrest. “Sarim Burney was interrogated twice. He admitted making a mistake in the initial statement following his arrest,” said the officials.

    He appeared before the court today(Wednesday), where he candidly told reporters that he would emerge from this. However, the investigation officer requested the court to order Burney’s physical remand for investigation regarding the matter.

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  • Dear male colleagues, Sherry Rehman has a message for you

    Dear male colleagues, Sherry Rehman has a message for you

    Pakistan People’s Party (PPP) Vice President and Parliamentary leader Sherry Rehman has highlighted a very common and a misogynistic issue women face in the workplace.

    In her latest post on X (formerly Twitter), Rehman alluded to male professionals in Pakistan who discriminate in their manner of addressing female colleagues.

    “I am sorry but I cannot allow myself to be called only “Sherry” if the colleagues next to me are called so and so sahibs along with their full names as a mark of respect.

    I have no problem if you call me Sherry if you are calling my other male colleagues by their first names too”, she pointed out.

    While men in workplaces are commonly referred to as ‘Sir,’ ‘Sahab,’ or by their full name out of respect for their professional status or simply their gender, women, on the other hand, are mostly called by their first name or derogatorily as ‘larki’ or ‘bibi,’ etc.

    While professionally, calling someone by their first name is not inherently wrong, using more socially respectful language for men compared to women makes the practice sexist.

    This lack of courtesy traditionally stems from the patriarchal idea of deeming women as intellectually and professionally inferior.

  • Khan to face new cases in future: Sanaullah

    Khan to face new cases in future: Sanaullah

    Advisor to Prime Minister on Political and Public Affairs Rana Sanaullah stated on Geo News program ‘Capital Talk’ that new cases would be filed against former Prime Minister Imran Khan after he recently got major relief in the cypher case from Islamabad High Court on June 3.

    “Doubts can be created in a simple matter…at one time, we saw back-to-back sentences without the creation of doubts. It is likely to see doubts in the iddat case as well just like we saw in the cypher case,” said the former Interior Minister.

    Sanaullah opined that the iddat case was being termed a “personal affair” of a public personality which is not true.

    He said that Khan was nominated in cases in which he confessed his crimes and admitted that new cases would be filed in the days to come.

    Sanaullah hinted at Khan’s controversial X post that a case might be filed regarding that.

  • Expect to pay 10,000 on Eid to your butcher

    Expect to pay 10,000 on Eid to your butcher

    Butchers in Karachi have released the rate list for slaughtering animals on Eid ul Azha.

    On the first day of Eid, it will cost 20 thousand rupees to slaughter a heifer. The rate for goats has been fixed at 10 thousand rupees, and for camels, it has been set at 40 thousand rupees.

    The Qurbani rate will be almost half on the second and third day of Eid.

    However, rates are expected to skyrocket as Eid draws closer.

  • Gohar confirms PTI’s socials’ handled by Jibran Ilyas, Azhar Mashwani

    Gohar confirms PTI’s socials’ handled by Jibran Ilyas, Azhar Mashwani

    Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) Chairman Gohar Khan has revealed during an investigation by the Federal Investigation Agency (FIA) that Jibran Ilyas and Azhar Mashwani manage the party’s social media accounts from abroad, Express Tribune has reported.

    FIA has initiated a probe regarding the controversial video released from Imran Khan’s social media account about the 1971 Fall of Dhaka.

    During the inquiry, Barrister Gohar emphasised that he did not agree with the decision to upload the controversial video. He confirmed that Ilyas and Mashwani are primarily responsible for content creation and video production.

    During the FIA’s cybercrime inquiry into the contentious video, Barrister Gohar was interrogated for two hours, while the party’s Information Secretary, Raoof Hasan, was questioned for four hours.

    Meanwhile, Azhar Mashwani today posted on X, “My two elder brothers Prof. Mazhar and Prof. Zahoor Mashwani were picked up from our house in Township Lahore at 2:50 pm today by dozens of CTD uniformed and plain clothed people.”

  • India’s Modi readies for third term after securing coalition

    India’s Modi readies for third term after securing coalition

    Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi was preparing Thursday to be sworn in for a third term after an unexpectedly close election that forced his party into a coalition government.

    Modi’s Hindu-nationalist Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), which ruled for the past decade with an outright majority, had been expecting another landslide win.

    But results of the six-week election released Tuesday ran counter to exit polls, seeing the BJP lose its majority and sending it into quick-fire talks to lock in a 15-member coalition that would allow it to govern.

    That grouping — the National Democratic Alliance (NDA) — announced late Wednesday that they had agreed to form a government.

    “We all unanimously choose respected NDA leader Narendra Modi as our leader,” a BJP-issued alliance statement said.

    The alliance holds 293 seats in parliament, giving it control of the 543-seat body.

    Indian media reports said Modi would be sworn in as prime minister on Saturday.

    Modi’s new reliance on “the minefield of coalition politics” means he faces the prospect of a far tougher-than-expected third term, the Hindustan Times warned in its Thursday editorial.

    “Consensus building will have to be the bedrock of governance,” it added, noting the right-wing BJP will have to “recalibrate its expansion plans”.

    ‘New chapter of development’

    While Modi faces a more complicated political environment at home, he won the plaudits of leaders around the world.

    US President Joe Biden congratulated Modi on his coalition’s victory, and the State Department said the United States hoped to work with the Hindu nationalist leader on a “free and open” Asia.

    “The friendship between our nations is only growing,” Biden wrote, while French President Emmanuel Macron congratulated his “dear friend”.

    China congratulated Modi and said it was “ready to work” with its neighbour, while the coalition’s win was also applauded by Britain, the European Union, Japan and Russia.

    Modi, 73, insisted on Tuesday night that the election results were a victory that ensured he would continue his agenda.

    “Our third term will be one of big decisions and the country will write a new chapter of development,” Modi told a crowd of cheering supporters in the capital New Delhi after his win. “This is Modi’s guarantee.”

    ‘Play the coalition game’

    Commentators and exit polls had projected an overwhelming victory for Modi, who critics have accused of leading the jailing of opposition figures and trampling on the rights of India’s 200-million-plus Muslim community.

    But the BJP secured 240 seats in parliament, well down from the 303 it won five years ago and 32 short of a majority on its own.

    The main opposition Congress party won 99 seats in a remarkable turnaround, almost doubling its 2019 tally of 52.

    “Today’s masters are not as strong as they were,” Christophe Jaffrelot, a professor at King’s College London, wrote in The Hindu daily on Thursday.

    “For the first time in his political career, Narendra Modi will have to play the coalition game.”

    Congress party president Mallikarjun Kharge said the result was a vote against Modi “and the substance and style of his politics”.

    “It is a huge political loss for him personally, apart from being a clear moral defeat as well,” he told party leaders at an opposition alliance meeting.

    In a personal sting, Modi was re-elected to his constituency representing the Hindu holy city of Varanasi with a far lower margin of 152,300 votes. That compared with nearly half a million votes five years ago.

    “Elections expressed a yearning for the defence of constitutional values and citizen dignity,” Ashutosh Varshney, a political scientist at Brown University, wrote in the Indian Express on Thursday.

    Varshney argued Modi’s setback reflected concerns about what the “idea of India” meant to voters — against a backdrop of a “rise of animosities and polarisation in society, people’s concern about rights and the steeply rising inequalities”.

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    © Agence France-Presse

  • Mohsin Naqvi gets team’s hotel changed

    Mohsin Naqvi gets team’s hotel changed

    Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) Chairman Mohsin Naqvi took strict notice of the national team’s stay at a New York hotel located 90 minutes away from the stadium, leading to a change in hotel.

    Earlier the hotel where the team had to stay was a 90-minute drive from the stadium, but the changed hotel is just five minutes away from the stadium.

    The Indian cricket team is housed just 10 minutes away from the ground in New York, while other teams’ hotels are more than an hour away.

    South Africa and Sri Lanka have already expressed concerns over the facilities provided during their stay in New York.

    According to Geo sources, PCB Chairman Mohsin Naqvi made it clear to the International Cricket Council (ICC) that if the Pakistani team’s hotel has not changed, he would shift the team to a better and more convenient place at PCB’s expense.

    The national team will leave for New York immediately after the match against USA today, to play a highly-anticipated match against India on June 9 and one against Canada on June 11. The last match of the first round will be against Ireland on June 16.

  • T20 World Cup: Uganda’s Frank Nsubuga creates history

    T20 World Cup: Uganda’s Frank Nsubuga creates history

    Ugandan bowler Frank Nsubuga has created new history in the ongoing T20 World Cup in America and West Indies on Thursday.

    Chasing the target of 78 runs, Uganda lost five wickets against Papua New Guinea at just 26 runs, but thanks to Riazat Ali Shah’s excellent knock of 33 runs, Uganda achieved the target in the 19th over.

    This success was not only historic for Uganda, but the country’s 43-year-old spinner also made history in the match.

    He bowled the best spell in T20 World Cup history, taking two wickets for just four runs in four overs.

  • Budget 2024-25: Pakistan Stock Exchange proposes tax reforms for economic growth

    Budget 2024-25: Pakistan Stock Exchange proposes tax reforms for economic growth

    Pakistan Stock Exchange (PSX) has forwarded a series of significant tax proposals to both the Ministry of Finance (MoF) and the Federal Board of Revenue (FBR) for potential inclusion in the upcoming federal budget for the fiscal year 2024-25.

    These proposed measures are designed to not only bolster revenue but also to incentivise the allocation of resources towards sectors of the economy that are both productive and officially documented. This move is deemed critical for fostering economic growth and generating employment opportunities across Pakistan.

    Notably, PSX has experienced a marked upswing in its performance, largely attributed to recent stability measures implemented within the broader macroeconomic landscape. In the outgoing year alone, the market capitalisation has surged by nearly Rs4 trillion, signifying a substantial boost to economic prosperity.

    Furthermore, foreign investments totaling approximately $132 million have flowed into the country through the stock market since July 2023, underscoring the significance of the stock market in attracting foreign capital.

    It is imperative that both the Ministry of Finance and the FBR carefully evaluate the proposals put forth by PSX to ensure that the stock market remains a vital contributor to economic growth, tax revenues, foreign investment inflows, and the formalisation of the economy. This strategic move is crucial for sustaining the positive momentum witnessed in both the capital market and broader economic recovery efforts.

    PSX stresses the importance of prioritising comprehensive documentation of all economic activities, with capital markets representing one of the most meticulously documented sectors within the economy. A robust capital market ecosystem not only aligns with key economic and social objectives but also serves as a catalyst for expanding the taxpayer base, augmenting savings and investment rates, and mitigating wealth disparities.

    To realise these overarching objectives, investors necessitate a conducive and predictable tax regime. As such, Pakistan Stock Exchange has articulated a range of proposals to the Ministry of Finance and the Federal Board of Revenue, all aimed at fostering a favorable environment for investment and economic growth in the fiscal year 2024-25.

  • T20 World Cup 2024: India defeat Ireland by 8 wickets

    T20 World Cup 2024: India defeat Ireland by 8 wickets

    In the eighth match of the Men’s T20 World Cup, India started the tournament victoriously by defeating Ireland by 8 wickets.

    Indian captain Rohit Sharma won the toss and invited Ireland to bat first.

    Ireland’s inning

    Ireland’s batting line failed miserably in front of India’s brilliant bowling and the entire team was bowled out for 96 runs in 16 overs.

    For Ireland, Gareth Delaney was outstanding with 26 runs while Joshua Little scored 14 runs and Curtis Kumfer scored 12 runs. Apart from this, Tucker was dismissed for 10 runs.

    On behalf of India, Hardik Pandya dismissed 3 players, Arsdeep Singh and Bumrah took 2 wickets each.

    India’s inning

    India easily achieved Ireland’s target of 97 runs for the loss of 2 wickets in 12.2 overs. Captain Rohit Sharma stood out with 52 runs while Rishabh Pant remained unbeaten with 36 runs.

    Virat Kohli and Surya Kumar Yadav were dismissed for 2 runs, captain Rohit Sharma retired hurt.