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  • FIA arrests gang teaching black magic on social media

    FIA arrests gang teaching black magic on social media

    The crime wing of the Federal Investigation Agency (FIA) has arrested a gang involved in teaching black magic on social media, Malik Tahseen Raza reports for Dawn.

    According to the FIA, the suspects offered customers entire black magic training on YouTube channels and other social media sites in exchange for millions of rupees. People who were interested were instructed to spend a specific sum of money to have access to premium videos and to purchase ‘wands’, ‘owl blood’ and ‘owl meat’ to engage in witchcraft. The gang also offered their assistance in resolving individuals’ issues via these spiritual avenues.

    One of these channels acquired more than 200,000 followers by teaching easy techniques for learning how to find deposits of gold. People who wanted children and those having difficulty finding love and marriage were their top clients. The suspects occasionally made money by taking pictures and videos of their female clients and later blackmailing them.

    The FIA filed a case against the suspects in accordance with Sections 419, 420, 468, and 471 of the Pakistan Penal Code, Sections 3, 4 of the Anti-Money Laundering Act and 4, 17 and 21 of the Prevention of Electronic Crimes Act, 2016.

  • YouTuber, vlogger Abdullah Khattak passes away

    YouTuber, vlogger Abdullah Khattak passes away

    Popular YouTuber and vlogger Abdullah Khattak passed away on Wednesday morning following a road accident. Abdullah’s friend Bilal Siddiqui announced the news of his death on his Instagram handle.

    “I don’t know how to announce this, but tragically Abdullah Khattak has passed away in a road accident last night,” he added.

    “There are few words to express the deep pain and sorrow of losing such an angel,” he added. “I still don’t believe death would come to you this early.”

    Abdullah was famous for making academic videos and was studying medicine at Aga Khan University Hospital.

    Aga Khan University also announced Abdullah’s death on Twitter.

    “We are deeply saddened by the tragic loss of our dear student and friend, Abdullah Khattak (MBBS ‘24), who met with a motorcycle crash earlier today,” AKU’s official account tweeted. “Our heartfelt condolences and prayers go out to his family and friends.”

    His burial and funeral will take place in Rahat Abad Madrassa, Peshawar, today (Wednesday) at 10:45pm.

  • Cellular companies raise call and data bundle prices

    Cellular companies raise call and data bundle prices

    Telecommunications companies in Pakistan, such as Jazz, Telenor, and Ufone, have raised the prices of various call and data package offers.

    According to Propakistani, Jazz has notified its customers of the price increase, and the company has revised the subscription fees for the YouTube and social packages for one week from Rs115 to Rs120, while the price of the WhatsApp package has increased from Rs21 to Rs23 for one week.

    Jazz prepaid monthly premium, which includes 25GB of monthly data and 250 all-network minutes, remains unchanged at Rs650.

    Due to rising inflation, Ufone has also raised its prices. UPower is now priced at Rs120, up from Rs100 previously. The price of SuperCard Plus increased from Rs649 to Rs699 on June 29, 2022. The price of Super Card Gold has also risen by more than Rs100, from Rs999 to Rs1,099.

    Read more: Number of 3G, 4G users in Pakistan increases to 113.89 million

    Telenor package prices have also increased. On June 22, 2022, the price of EasyCard increased from 500 to Rs550; on June 29, 2022, the price of EasyCard increased from Rs650 to Rs700; and the monthly social pack plus increased to Rs100.

    Telecom companies claim that a price increase is required to maintain service quality as inflation rises.

  • ‘Altaf Hussain is Nelson Mandela’: Fawad Ch responds to Farogh Naseem’s remarks about Khan

    ‘Altaf Hussain is Nelson Mandela’: Fawad Ch responds to Farogh Naseem’s remarks about Khan

    Former law minister Farogh Naseem revealed that Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) Chairman Imran Khan was the one who ordered filing a reference against Supreme Court (SC) judge Justice Qazi Faez Isa.

    “It was Imran Khan himself who had ordered filing a reference against Justice Qazi Faez Isa,” Farogh claimed on Geo News programme, ‘Aaj Shahzeb Khanzada Kay Sath’.

    The former law minister was responding to Khan’s admission that filing a presidential reference for the removal of Justice Qazi Faez Isa was a mistake and that he had been misguided by relevant officials about the facts of the case.

    Naseem further stated that a reference against Justice Isa was filed because of a report by the Asset Recovery Unit (ARU), which was headed by Shahzad Akbar back then.

    “This is total nonsense. Around seven in the morning, I got a call from Imran Khan sahib, Naeem ul Haq was alive at the time. He [Khan] asked that since the eradication of corruption was the PTI government’s agenda, therefore the reference should be filed immediately.”

    “Let’s assume for a minute that I was behind filing the reference, but the decision-maker was Imran Khan sahib and the president of Pakistan. They now want to attract Hamid Khan, who was once Justice Isa’s lawyer.”

    Responding to Naseem’s allegations against Khan, former Information Minister Fawad Chaudhry tweeted, “Altaf Hussain is Nelson Mandela :)”

    Farogh Naseem also revealed that former Human Rights Minister Shireen Mazari wished to be defence and foreign minister when PTI was in power.

    Earlier, senior lawyer and former PTI leader Hamid Khan said that Khan confessed to committing blunders that cost PTI politically.

    Hamid said that Khan admitted that he was misled on Justice Qazi Faez Isa’s issue, adding that he had told Khan that the reference was a mistake because the judge was an honest man.

  • Surge in Covid-19 cases: PM urges nation to follow SOPs

    Surge in Covid-19 cases: PM urges nation to follow SOPs

    Prime Minister (PM) Shehbaz Sharif has urged Pakistanis to follow Covid-related standard operating procedures (SOPs) amid a surge in coronavirus cases.

    “In view of the resurgence of corona cases in the country, I urge the entire nation to follow the instructions and SOPs related to corona. Our front-line workers and doctors have made many sacrifices to keep us safe. We must not waste these gains against Corona,” tweeted PM Shehbaz.

    Earlier today, PM Shehbaz also chaired a meeting to discuss the Covid-19 situation in the country. The provincial and district governments were given orders by the premier to strictly enforce safety precautions and take additional action to control the spread of the virus.

    The government has decided to increase the number of coronavirus tests.

    Pakistan’s Covid-19 positivity rate has risen to 3.50 per cent today (Wednesday), according to the National Institute of Health (NIH).

    According to NIH data, 451 people were infected with the virus and one death has been reported in the last 24 hours.

  • Loadshedding situation to get better by mid-July, says Musadik Malik

    Loadshedding situation to get better by mid-July, says Musadik Malik

    Minister of State for Petroleum Dr Musadik Malik hoped that the loadshedding situation across the country will get better in the second half of July.

    Earlier, Prime Minister (PM) Shehbaz Sharif warned the nation of more power outages next month.

    Musadik further said that Pakistan is trying to import coal from Afghanistan. He said the major reason behind electricity loadshedding is the water shortage in dams, while the other reasons include coal price hikes and Liquefied Natural Gas (LNG) shortage in the international market.

    “Only 5,000 MegaWatts (MW) of electricity is being generated instead of 9,500 MW,” he said.

    On Monday, residents of Karachi came out on the streets due to the persistent loadshedding in their areas. The protests continued for more than 24 hours.

    Interestingly, the government has pledged to decrease loadshedding several times. Earlier this month, PM Shehbaz instructed the power authorities to reduce loadshedding throughout the country to two hours. However, the situation remained the same.

  • More than 40 life-saving drugs short in Pakistan

    More than 40 life-saving drugs short in Pakistan

    Due to the imposition of GST, the pharmaceutical industry is no longer importing raw materials, resulting in a shortage of 40-50 life-saving drugs.

    Mansoor Dilawar, Chairman of the Pakistan Pharmaceutical Manufacturers’ Association (PPMA), stated that 40 to 50 medicines are in short supply and that the number will soon exceed 100.

    According to Brecorder, the pharmaceutical industry has been waiting for Rs40 billion in sales tax refunds since January 16, 2022. However, the FBR has denied that any refunds were held by the tax authority.

    Unavailable drugs

    Alp tablets for anti-depression, Dexamethasone for asthma, cancer, and joint pain, Epitab for epilepsy, Nervin for depression, Epival, Fexet D, Nitronal, Ventoline tablets and injections are among the medicines in short supply on the market.

    Furthermore, Epival In, Myrin P, Ketasol Inj, Loprin, Silver tab, phenergen Elixir, Tixylix Lincitilus, Chlooriptics Drops, systane drops, Rivotril drops, Dormicum tablets, Winstor, Tritace, Sodamint, Schazobutil, Jardymet, and Brufen are said to be in short supply.

    There are also no Lomotil, Panadol, Tan Primolut B, Progynova, Stilnix, Glucobay, Zentel, Avor, Gravibinan, Syp Gaviscon, Lipofundin, or Sorbid Injection available.

    According to the PPMA chairman, the industry is halting production of low-margin items after the Federal Board of Revenue (FBR) imposed taxes that increased the industry’s cost of production by Rs60 billion to Rs70 billion.

    Read more: FBR collects highest-ever tax of Rs6 trillion in FY22

    “Because drug prices are capped, the pharmaceutical industry cannot pass on higher production costs to consumers,” he explained.

    “As a result, the industry has been forced to halt production of low-margin medicines, which have become unviable due to tax increases,” Dilawar added.

    According to Dilawar, the industry pays a 17 per cent refundable GST at the import stage and raw materials are subject to a 1 per cent non-refundable tax. The government then imposed a 1 per cent tax on the sale of medicines. This forces the industry to pay taxes ranging from Rs60 billion to Rs70 billion per year.

  • Pakistan decides to ease visa regulation policy for Afghans

    Pakistan decides to ease visa regulation policy for Afghans

    In a federal cabinet meeting held on June 28, the government decided to ease the visa regulation policy for Afghans to encourage bilateral trade with Afghanistan in the hopes that this would benefit both the country’s economies.

    Prime Minister (PM) Shehbaz Sharif was presiding over the federal cabinet meeting.

    PM Shehbaz issued orders that six-month multiple-entry visas be given to the transporters from Afghanistan. The interior ministry has been given the power to extend this period to one year.

    A sub-category will also be introduced under the work visa category in the online visa system. The visa applications will be assessed on the basis of their existing passports and nationalities instead of their country of origin.

    The federal cabinet noted that this decision comes in an effort to promote bilateral trade with Afghanistan.

  • Video: Bride breaks down after finding dead father at her wedding

    Video: Bride breaks down after finding dead father at her wedding

    A man in India gifted his sister a wax statue of their late father at her wedding. The video of the bride’s emotional reaction after finding the statue of her dead father has gone viral on social media.

    In the viral video, the bride can be seen giving her father’s statue a tender kiss before performing her wedding rituals.

    The video has received at least eight million views on YouTube. The guests present at the wedding were also moved by this gesture.

    The bride’s father lost his life to Covid last year.

    “I was with him in the hospital for three days where I could not meet him or talk to him as he was on a ventilator,” said the bride’s brother.

  • FBR collects highest-ever tax of Rs6 trillion in FY22

    FBR collects highest-ever tax of Rs6 trillion in FY22

    The Federal Board of Revenue (FBR) achieved a significant feat by collecting a record Rs6,000 billion in revenue during the previous fiscal year 2021–2022.

    The FBR reported that during the current fiscal year, it collected Rs2,205 billion in income tax, Rs2,773 billion in sales tax, and Rs1,007 billion in customs duty. The organisation in charge of collecting taxes also released Rs305 billion in refunds during that time.

    According to former finance minister Shaukat Tarin, the government of Imran Khan’s policies and the country’s economic growth allowed FBR to meet its revenue goals.

    Tarin insisted that the government should continue enforcing the prior administration’s tax laws. According to Tarin, the government shouldn’t impose additional taxes on the current taxpayers. Heavy taxes shouldn’t be imposed on the economy’s productive sectors, he continued.

    The government has given the general public significant tax breaks on a number of necessities, but the FBR claims that these tax breaks haven’t prevented revenue collection from continuing on an unprecedented and constant growth trajectory. Sales tax on all POL products has been eliminated for the first time in the nation’s history, costing the FBR Rs45 billion per month.

    In order to maximise revenue potential through digitization, transparency, and taxpayer facilitation, the FBR has implemented a number of novel interventions at both the policy and operational levels. In addition to ensuring transparency, facilitating taxpayers, and making business easier, this has led to a steady increase in revenue collection.