Leading heroes of Pakistani film and television industry, Humayun Saeed, Faysal Qureshi, Adnan Siddiqui, Wahaj Ali, Fahad Sheikh and Faizan Sheikh amongst others danced their hearts out at a mutual friend’s wedding in Karachi.
The videos from the wedding have circulated across social media platforms.
Earlier the Qaid-e-Tanhai star joked about roping Humayun and Fahad Mustafa for an item song in his film.
Imagine a mob so ruthless, so violent, so remorseless that first, they kill an innocent man for tearing down a poster with religious text on it, then they burn the body in front of hundreds of people and several cameras because somehow their thirst for blood was not enough so now they had to humiliate a dead body. And then some of them had the audacity to take selfies with the burning body. All because he did something without even realising that he could be lynched to death for it.
Imagine that this man was a foreign national — a Sri Lankan — working as a factory manager in Sialkot, and whose wife heard about this most tragic incident from news and the internet. Imagine his wife’s shock and horror. Imagine the bereaved widow looking at those videos, those gruesome images, those murderers taking pride in killing her husband. Imagine her helplessness. Imagine that this man has two young children, nine and 14 respectively, who will have to live with this fact for the rest of their lives that their father was killed, nay lynched, by a frenzied mob in Pakistan.
Imagine that we live in a country where every other day is a ‘black day’, where every other incident is bone-chilling, where no one is safe, where so many horrors unfold that we move on from one terrifying incident to another and forget about the previous one. What have we become? How have we come to this point? Will our state introspect that our society has become so intolerant that it cannot even protect anyone? Will our state realise how extremism has permeated our society because it has been officially sanctioned through our policies? It is the responsibility of the state to protect the lives of every human being. The misuse of religion for political benefit, the misuse of religion for some vested interest, or allowing the misuse of religion for some external policy will eventually have consequences. And those are the consequences that we are facing every day. There are no words to express what this country is going through — those at the helm of the affairs have to now challenge this extremist ideology or the path ahead is very dark. And every second will then be dark and there will be no turning back. Let people live without fear. A society that has to look over its shoulders all the time cannot progress.
The wife of Priyantha Kumara, the Sri Lankan national working in Pakistan who was lynched to death by a mob in Sialkot, has made a request to leaders of Pakistan and Sri Lanka to serve justice.
“I got to know about the brutal murder of my husband from the news, later I saw this on the internet as well. He was a really innocent man” said the wife of Priyantha Kumara while talking to BBC.
She continued by saying, “I request leaders of Sri Lanka and Pakistan to ensure justice for my husband and two children, by bringing the perpetrators to justice.”
Priyantha Kumara was tortured to death on Friday by a mob after being accused of blasphemy. Prime Minister Imran Khan has condemned the incident and has said that justice will be served.
Sri Lankan Prime Minister Mahinda Rajapaksa has expressed confidence in PM Imran Khan’s commitment to punishing all those involved.
The police have arrested more than 100 people involved. Some of those involved gave interviews to local news channels, taking pride in the murder.
The postmortem report of Priyantha Kumara, the Sri Lankan national working in Pakistan, has revealed that he died as a result of injuries on his head and face. The report also revealed that 99 per cent of Kumara’s body has been burned. The report also shows that except for his feet, all the bones of his body had been broken.
As per the report, Priyantha’s liver, stomach and kidney were also affected.
Priyantha Kumara was tortured to death on Friday by a mob after being accused of blasphemy. Prime Minister Imran Khan has condemned the incident and has said that justice will be served.
The police have arrested more than 100 people involved, and one of the main culprits, Farhan Idrees has been arrested. Farhan gave an interview to local news channels, taking pride in the murder he committed
Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz’s (PML-N) Punjab President Rana Sanaullah said if the government tries to hold the upcoming elections using Electronic Voting Machines (EVMs) he will burn them.
In a press conference on Friday, Sanaullah while talking about foreign loans stated, “Pakistan has gone bankrupt. The entire economy including the State Bank of Pakistan (SBP) has been handed over to International Monetary Fund (IMF).”
He said, “Electronic machine par intekhaab hua toh machino ko polling station se nikal kar aag laga de gaye” (We will try every strategy against EVMs. If the election is held through this [EVMs], we will take out the machines from polling stations and set them on fire.)
Talking about PML-N Vice President Maryam Nawaz’s leaked audio, he claimed that the government is exaggerating about the relevance of the audio.
Prior to this, Rana talked about EVMs in a show and said if the government tries to force the elections through EVMs, the party would be left with no option but to follow the TLP way of protesting.
A James Bond Party themed party was thrown by British Deputy High Commissioner Karachi Mike Nithavrianakis in Karachi on December 3rd. Many celebrities including Mehwish Hayat, Ahad Raza Mir, Humayun Saeed and Imran Ashraf were present at the party.
Senator Sherry Rehman was also spotted at the event following the dress code.
Have a look at some of the pictures:
Pakistan Democratic Movement (PDM) Chief Maulana Fazlur Rehman, holding the state responsible for the lynching incident in Sialkot, said, “If the state does not take action against the ones accused of blasphemy then such incidents will happen.”
Taking his outrage to Twitter, Maulana wrote, “The incident in Sialkot is reprehensible and shameful. There should be a comprehensive investigation.”
“In the past, there have been similar backlash against government-sponsored fugitives accused of blasphemy,” wrote Maulana.
“Under the guise of such incidents, the international establishment conspires against the religious class and to make the Islamic provisions of the constitution controversial,” further tweeted Maulana.
Meanwhile, Pakistan Muslim League Nawaz (PML-N) leader Ahsan Iqbal, disagreeing with Maulana Fazl tweeted, “Respectfully Maulana Sahib such incidents should be unconditionally condemned – Islam does not allow such fanaticism and illegal killings by mobs in any case.”
“The nation expects the scholars to guide the nation in this matter,” tweeted Iqbal.
Twitterati too reacted to Maulana’s statement.
The Sindh Cabinet has decided to lower the passing percentage in the Medical and Dental College Admission Test (MDCAT) from 65 per cent to 50 per cent for the session of 2021-2022.
Sindh Chief Minister (CM) Syed Murad Ali Shah confirmed the news and said, “This decision would not only provide an opportunity to the provincial candidates to seek admission in medical and dental colleges/universities of Sindh but the seats which were going to be unfulfilled/vacant would be utilised.”
It was reported, that last year with a passing percentage of 60 per cent, 8,287 students passed in Sindh out of which 2,900 took admissions in the public sector. Of the remaining 5,387 students, only 800 took admissions in private medical and dental colleges as the remaining 4,587 were not able to get admission mainly because they could not afford it.
With this drop in admissions, Sindh will reportedly face a severe shortage of about 10,000 doctors in the next five years. CM said that World Health Organsiation (WHO) recommended one doctor for 850 people but Sindh has one doctor for 3,200 people. “Hence this gap of doctors will worsen if the situation persists,” he added.
According to Health Minister Dr Azra Pechuho, the Pakistan Medical Commission (PMC) conducted a computerised MDCAT in October 2021. She said, “The test from the federal curriculum puts Sindh students at a disadvantage and resulted in a low pass percentage.”
The reduction of percentage will not affect the merit as it would remain the same as prescribed under the PMC Act.
Pakistan national cricketer Shoaib Malik, who belongs to Sialkot, has condemned the ‘violence’ in Sialkot by a mob.
Taking to Twitter, the cricketer said: “My heartiest condolences, I stand with the family of the deceased & strongly condemn this act of violence.”
He also said that what happened there should not have happened. The cricketer also demanded punishment for the culprits.
He further added: “What happened, shouldn’t have happened, we are embarrassed. The culprits should be punished at the earliest… #Sialkot.”
Former captain of Pakistan cricket team Shahid Afridi also expressed his thoughts, sharing a Quranic verse: “Whosoever kills a person … it shall be as if he has killed all mankind.”
Similarly, Pakistani cricketer Mohammad Hafeez expressed his grief on Twitter.
“Condemning horrific attack on a factory & shameful incident in Sialkot. As Pakistani i wil call it a black day for our society,” he wrote while adding hashtags of #Sialkot and #Justice.”
The gut-wrenching incident took place on Sialkot’s Wazirabad Road, where workers of private factories brutally lynched a Sri Lankan national, Priyantha Kumara, on Friday.
The nation was shell-shocked and disgusted when the Sri Lankan national was brutally lynched and his body was set on fire by the mob. The sickening incident outraged the nation as the civil and military leaders denounced it as “horrific” “shameful” and “extra-judicial vigilantism”.
Several gruesome video clips shared on social media showed a mob beating the victim while chanting slogans against blasphemy.
President Arif Alvi said the vigilante attack has nothing to do with religion as Prime Minister Imran Khan promised that those responsible “will be punished with the full severity of the law”.
Prime Minister Imran Khan tweeted that the “horrific, vigilante attack” on the factory and the burning alive of the Sri Lankan man was “a day of shame for Pakistan”.
“I am overseeing the investigations and, let there be no mistake, all those responsible will be punished with the full severity of the law. Arrests are in progress,” he added.
Chief Minister of Punjab Usman Buzdar tweeted that he was “extremely shocked at the horrific Sialkot incident”.
According to the latest updates, more than 100 people, including 13 of the main culprits have been arrested.
Police is identifying all the culprits using CCTV footages.
Meanwhile, the IG Punjab has ordered officials to submit a report within 48 hours.
The Embassy of Pakistan in the United States (US) had reportedly run out of funds and was unable to pay salaries of four months to the embassy’s locally recruited contractual staffers, reveals The News’ sources in a report by Journalist Wajid Ali Syed.
It was reported that a total of five staffers faced delays and non-payment of their monthly wages from August onwards. One staffer, who had been working there for the past ten years, resigned in September because of the on-going pay crisis.
Several sources disclosed that the Pakistan Community Welfare (PCW) fund, from which these unpaid staffers were paid out collapsed last year because the money was diverted to purchase ventilators and other medical equipment last year, after the pandemic. The embassy had to borrow money from other account-heads to keep up with the monthly salaries for the staffers hired locally.
As a result of this, the staffers wrote to the Pakistani ambassador in October. The ambassador repeatedly raised the issue with the Foreign Office (FO) in Islamabad and managed to secure all salaries just last week. The embassy’s spokesperson confirmed that “currently there is no salary-related issue being faced by the Embassy staff.”
These local staffers’ salaries range from 2,000 to 2,500 dollars per month. They do not get the perks and privileges that FO employees enjoy. The domestic staffers are usually hired to help with the ‘Consular section’ that provides visa, passport, notarization and other consular services.