Senate passed two key government bills related to human rights last month, which include the Domestic Violence (Prevention and Protection) Bill 2021 and the Islamabad Capital Territory Senior Citizens Bill 2021.
Both the bills were opposed by Mushtaq Ahmed from Jamaat-e-Islami (JI), Atta-ur-Rehman from Jamiat Ulema-e-Islam Fazl (JUI-F), and Rana Maqbool from Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) .
Analyst Ansar Abbasi took to his Twitter account to oppose the bill using the hashtag “We_Reject_Domestic_Violence_Bill_2021”.
Won’t condemn paedophilia, sexual assaults and rapes in madrassas… WILL NEVER EVER SPEAK UP AGAINST THESE MULLAHS WHO ARE CAUGHT RED HANDED… but will consider a bill curbing domestic violence as being against our “traditions and values”
Notable personalities from the local entertainment industry have taken to social media to criticise the dressing of female celebrities. Several actresses are receiving flak for wearing allegedly ‘bold’ dresses.
Two men were arrested by the Peshawar Police on Saturday for viciously beating their sister with a hammer and a helmet over a property dispute.
As per reports, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa police have confirmed their arrest. They were arrested by the Capital City Police from Amin Colony in Peshawar.
During interrogation, both men confessed to torturing their sister Masmaat for demanding a share in the ancestral house.
The video on Twitter was posted by the victim’s son, demanding action against his maternal uncles. He tweeted: “Today my maternal uncles attacked my mother when I and my brother were not home.”
Right after this, Peshawar Deputy Inspector General Abbas Ahsan responded saying, “Action taken, both of them have been arrested and the case being registered.”
@AbbasAhsan I never imagined I will do this. I am uploading this video in position of very helplessness. Today my three maternal uncle attacked my mother when I and my brother were not home. They attacked and badly beat my mother and grandmother#HelpArsalanFamily Helpthisfamily pic.twitter.com/Bf5C9V67cO
Positioned at top of the points table after five wins in six matches, Lahore Qalandars seemed strong frontrunners to clinch the elusive PSL trophy. At one stage, it even appeared that the sixth time might finally be the charm for them. Even Aqib Javed, Qalandars’ head coach, went a step further and billed Qalandars as the favourites to win the tournament in an interview with Cricket Pakistan.
Much to the chagrin of their fans, Qalandars squandered the impressive start and it all went downhill for them from there onwards. In the next four matches, they suffered four losses, which saw them getting stormed out of the playoffs for the fifth time in six editions.
This column attempts to shed light on and assess what went wrong for Qalandars this time around
1. Misfiring top order
Irrespective of whether a team is batting first or second, the top order holds the onus to provide a solid foundation. While Qalandars’ top 3 batsmen fared decently during the home games, they could not get going in the Abu Dhabi leg of the tournament. Before the tournament had to be moved from Pakistan to Abu Dhabi, Qalandars had played four games where their top 3 batsmen scored a total of 356 runs averaging 89 runs per game. In the Abu Dhabi leg of the tournament, Qalandars’ top 3 could muster a meager 289 across six innings averaging just over 48 runs per game.
2. Decisions at the toss
It cannot be denied that toss plays a crucial role in the outcome of a match. In the Pakistan leg of the tournament, Qalandars registered three wins in four games with all of the wins coming when Qalandars opted to bowl first after winning the toss. In the match against Multan Sultans where they batted first, they ended up losing by seven wickets, which indicates that chasing is not their strong suit. However, with the change in conditions from Pakistan to Abu Dhabi, Qalandars’ batsmen found even chasing par scores an uphill task. In the three consecutive losses against Islamabad United, Quetta Gladiators, and Karachi Kings, Lahore Qalandars batted second. Inexplicably, in their last league game against Multan Sultans where a win would have ensured Qalandars a spot in the playoffs, skipper Sohail Akhtar opted to chase again. The move backfired again as Qalandars were bundled out for 89 in reply to Sultan’s 169.
3. Shoddy death bowling
While Shaheen and Faulkner regularly provided good starts with the new ball, Qalandar’s death bowling was not up to the mark in the Abu Dhabi leg of the tournament. In overs 16-20 in losses against Islamabad, Quetta, Karachi, and Multan, Qalandars conceded 36 (9 runs per over), 38 (9.5 runs per over), 44 (11 runs per over), and 38 (9.5 runs per over) respectively. While it is their batting that is the main headache, Qalandars need to make sure that their bowlers continue their good impact from the powerplay and middle overs into the death overs heading into the next edition. Every cloud goes the saying, has a silver lining. Similarly, despite not being able to advance into the playoffs, Qalandars can take some positives particularly from the individual performances of the quartet of Rashid Khan, Tim David, James Faulkner, and Shaheen Afridi who gave a good account of themselves. Not being able to make it into the playoffs for five times in six editions despite having eminent T20 players in the ranks cries out for sweeping changes on multiple fronts and Qalandars need to ensure that they make these sweeping changes in their system before the seventh edition kicks off if they want the seventh time to be a charm for them.
Adviser to the Prime Minister on National Security Moeed Yusuf on Sunday said that the mastermind of the attack, which killed three people and left 24 others injured, “is an Indian citizen and [Indian intelligence agency] RAW is in touch with hum”.
Yusuf was addressing a press conference alongside the Punjab police chief and Information Minister Fawad Chaudhry.
Yusuf added that the IG has said we have the intelligence that a foreign intelligence agency was involved. “Today without a doubt I want to say, [the circumstances] of this entire attack lead to Indian-sponsored terrorism.”
“I want to make sure that our message is heard very clearly, that this particular incident on June 23 in Lahore…we have concrete evidence and intelligence, including financial and telephone records that point to direct Indian sponsorship of these terrorists,” Moeed Yusuf added.
“Through forensic analysis, electronic equipment that has been recovered from these terrorists, we have identified the main mastermind and the handlers of this terrorist attack and we have absolutely no doubt or reservation in informing you that the main mastermind belongs to RAW, the Indian intelligence agency, is an Indian national, and is based in India,” he said.
The National Security adviser also talked about the attempts of cyberattacks against Pakistan’s intelligence agencies, adding, “We have no doubt that the Johar Town and cyber attacks are linked. And the number in which [the cyber attacks] were done, there is no doubt that there was state involvement of our neighbour.”
On June 23, a powerful blast near the residence of Jamaatud Dawa (JuD) chief Hafiz Saeed killed three people and injured 24 others, including a police constable.
Minal Khan was recently hospitalized due to sickness in a Karachi’s medical facility, her fiancé Ahsan Mohsin Ikram took to Instagram to post a selfie with his ladylove straight from the hospital.
Ahsan wishes for a speedy recovery of the Jalan actress. On the work front, Minal is currently starring in ARY Digital’s Ishq Hai opposite Danish Taimoor.
Speaker National Assembly (NA) Asad Qaiser summoned a session of the Parliamentary Committee on National Security on July1. Army chief and heads of security institutions participated in the meeting. Politicians and legislators were given an in-depth briefing on Kashmir, Afghanistan, and internal security challenges.
Leader of the Opposition Shehbaz Sharif, Pakistan People’s Party (PPP) Chairman Bilawal Bhutto-Zardari, Mohsin Dawar, Yousaf Raza Gillani, Shahid Khaqan Abbasi, Mustafa Nawaz Khokhar and many others were part of the in-camera briefing.
However, Prime Minister Imran Khan did not attend the meeting. Government spokespersons said that PM Khan was going to attend the meeting but Speaker Asad Qaiser conveyed to him that Shehbaz Sharif would not attend the briefing if Khan attended it. However, Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) leaders have denied this. But NA Secretariat spokesperson also clarified that PM Imran Khan was always willing to attend the meeting but the only reason for not attending the meeting was reservations conveyed to the Assembly secretariat by some Opposition leaders.
First of all, why did the Opposition ask the PM not to attend the meeting? Some say that the message by Shehbaz Sharif was miscommunicated. Well, the PML-N should clarify what message was conveyed, if any, and why.
Sharif wanted to sign a Charter of Economy in order to improve Pakistan’s economy so why would he not allow PM Khan to attend such a meeting. Prime Minister Imran Khan does not need Mr Sharif’s permission or anyone else’s to attend an important parliamentary meeting.
Secondly, even if Shehbaz Sharif had sent this message, why did the prime minister give in? This meeting was extremely important in light of the US withdrawal from Afghanistan and its consequences for Pakistan. All political leadership should have been there, including the PM, so as to come to a national consensus on these security issues. When has the prime minister ever listened to the Opposition before that he chose to finally pay heed to them now?
Thirdly, Speaker NA Asad Qaiser was the convenor of the meeting. Why did he discourage the prime minister from attending such an important and sensitive meeting.
Our leadership should not let their political differences come in the way when it comes to national security issues. Such differences should be limited to electoral politics, not on issues that have an impact on the future of the country. We hope that the next time there is such a meeting, or when issues related to the country’s future are discussed, all leaders would sit on the same table and build a national consensus.
A fire on the surface of the Gulf of Mexico erupted after a gas leak from an underwater pipeline sparked ablaze, according to Mexico’s state-owned Pemex petrol company.
🚨 Sobre el incendio registrado en aguas del Golfo de México, en la Sonda de Campeche, a unos metros de la plataforma Ku-Charly (dentro del Activo Integral de Producción Ku Maloob Zaap)
— Manuel Lopez San Martin (@MLopezSanMartin) July 2, 2021
Footage of the fire – appearing to boil the ocean’s surface with bright orange flames – went viral on July 2 before the fire was extinguished roughly 150 yards from a drilling platform in Mexico’s Yucatan peninsula, the company reported.
The company said that “no injuries or evacuations are reported”.
In a statement, Greenpeace Mexico’s Gustavo Ampugnani said: “These are the risks we face on a daily basis and which call for a change in the energy model, as we have demanded.”
A policeman in Sadiqabad killed a man with an axe who was acquitted of blasphemy charges after spending almost three years in prison, BBC Urdu reported.
According to the police, the accused had recently joined the police and was under training to become a constable. Rana Mohammad Ashraf, SHO of Sadiqabad Saddar Police Station, told the BBC that the policeman had turned himself in to the police after killing a man named Mohammad Waqas.
“He told the police that he had been planning to kill Muhammad Waqas since 2016 but at that time he had gone to jail.”
In 2016, a man named Muhammad Waqas was arrested on allegations of sharing blasphemous content on social media. A court had sentenced him to imprisonment in 2017. But the High Court had recently absolved him of the charges while hearing his plea against the lower court’s decision.
Special Assistant to Prime Minister Imran Khan, Dr Shahbaz Gill, said that Pakistan People’s Party (PPP) Chairperson Bilawal Bhutto-Zardari will be taking his curriculum vitae (CV) along with him to Washington.
“He [Bilawal Bhutto] will say we are ready to do anything to come into power,” said Gill at a press conference in Karachi.
“We will not allow such a deal and will not let Bilawal go the United States with any petitions.”
Gill also tweeted: “Is Bilawal going to Washington like his father to take the next turn of power?”
کیا بلاول اپنے والد کی طرح اقتدار کی اگلی باری لینے واشنگٹن پہنچ رہے ہیں؟ کیا عرضی یہ ہے کہ اگر آپ ہمیں حکومت میں لائیں تو بھلے اڈے مانگیں یا ڈرون اٹیک کریں،ہم آپ سے نہیں پوچھیں گے،بس بدلے میں واشنگٹن ہمیں آشرواد دے؟
مگر بلاول کو شاید پتہ نہیں کہ وقت،دنیا اور پاکستان اب بدل چکا!
He further added, “Is this an appeal that if you bring us in power, then even if you demand financial stations or attempt a drone attack, we wouldn’t ask you about it, but in exchange, we want Washington’s blessings.”
“Bilawal Bhutto-Zardari might not know that time, the world and Pakistan have changed now,” added Gill.
