Current Final

Blog

  • Ice cream tests positive for COVID-19

    Ice cream has been found to have been contaminated with COVID-19 in China after three samples of the dessert tested positive for the virus.

    As per details, authorities in China are tracing people who may have come into contact with the contaminated batches, which were produced by the Chinese food company.

    All products made by the firm have been sealed after the samples it sent to the municipal centre for disease control this week tested positive for coronavirus.

    Initial epidemiological investigations show the ice cream batch has used raw materials that include milk powder imported from New Zealand and whey powder imported from Ukraine.

    Authorities said the company produced 4,836 boxes of the contaminated ice cream of which 2,089 had been sealed away in storage.

    A total of 935 boxes of the ice cream, out of 2,747 boxes that entered the market, were in Tianjin and only 65 were sold to markets.

    Authorities said citizens who may have bought the product must report their health and physical movements to those in their communities.

    The city has also informed the market regulation authorities in other provinces where the ice cream was sent so it can be traced.

    Meanwhile, 1,662 employees of the company have gone into isolation.

  • Pakistan ranks 2nd in South Asia in terms of ease of starting a business: World Bank

    Pakistan has improved its position in the World Bank’s Ease of Doing Business Index for the second year in a row.

    According to the latest rankings released by the global organization, Pakistan has improved its position by an impressive total of 28 points, surging from 136th place to 108th on the rankings. The World Bank report calls this an “unprecedented improvement”, and it is highly indicative of the country managing to exceed even its own expectations yet again.

    Out of the six reform areas highlighted in the 2020 edition of the report, Pakistan made the highest improvement in the “Starting a Business” indicator, which is an area largely being revolutionized by the Securities and Exchange Commission Pakistan (SECP).

    Pakistan’s ranking in this indicator has improved from 130 to 72 and is placed at second position in South Asian countries in terms of ease of starting a business.

    The improvement, according to the SECP, is primarily due to the integration of e-services with the Federal Board of Revenue (FBR) and the Employees Old Age Benefits Institution (EOBI) at the federal level and with business registration portals of Punjab and Sindh at the provincial level.

    After this integration, SECP’s e-services offer a one-window facility for company registration with FBR, EOBI, provincial employees social security institutions, the labour department and excise and taxation departments of Punjab and Sindh.

    As a result of this reform, the number of procedures to start a business, as recorded in the Doing Business Report 2020, have been reduced from ten to five and Pakistan has managed to rank “among the top ten reformers globally”.

    Pakistan emerging as an increasingly business-friendly nation is massively good news for the local hustle culture and the entrepreneurship environment that has rapidly been garnering interest over the past few years.

  • Vaccine procurement woes

    Vaccine procurement woes

    We thought the year 2021 will be a year of hope after last year’s pandemic outbreak. This year will indeed be a year when a vaccine is rolled out around the world but there is a catch. According to the People’s Vaccine Alliance – a coalition including Oxfam, Amnesty International and Global Justice Now – just one in 10 people in dozens of poor countries will be able to get vaccinated against the coronavirus because wealthy countries have hoarded more doses than they need.

    The Alliance said that the rich nations have bought more than 50 per cent of the total stock of the world’s most promising vaccines, despite being home to just 14 per cent of the global population. According to the Duke Global Health Innovation Centre, the current models predict that there will not be enough vaccines to cover the world’s population until 2023 or 2024. This is quite worrying. Pakistan, too, has yet to procure the vaccines.

    Special Assistant to the Prime Minister on Health Dr Faisal Sultan told Dawn that Pakistan’s target is to procure the vaccine in the first quarter of the current year, and “we are confident of doing so. But it is quite difficult to say on which date we will acquire the vaccine”. Reports indicate that apart from Chinese vaccines and the Oxford vaccine, Pakistan will also be relying on the World Health Organization’s (WHO) COVAX initiative, which insures “rapid and equitable access to COVID-19 vaccines for all countries, regardless of income level”. Some government officials say that Pakistan did not have enough resources to place orders initially for vaccines. It is understandable given that Pakistan’s economy is already struggling.

    The lesson to learn from this pandemic is that countries like Pakistan must invest in science, technology and medical/health research. If we do this, we would be able to work on our own vaccines and manufacture them in the future. Healthcare is one of the top priorities of the current government. The government must step up and invest in research related to healthcare so that it helps Pakistan in the future. Coronavirus may have been a once-in-a-century pandemic but there will be new health emergencies that we could face in the future. Thus, it is important to invest heavily in research because the future is all about scientific research and development.

  • ‘Sky is your limit’: ‘Proud sister’ Saboor Aly tells Sajal

    ‘Sky is your limit’: ‘Proud sister’ Saboor Aly tells Sajal

    Saboor Aly has expressed that she is a “proud sister” after Sajal Aly bagged a role in Jemima Goldsmith’s upcoming production What Love Got to do with It?. Sajal will be sharing the screen with Emma Thompson, Lily James, Shabana Azmi, and Shazad Latif in the upcoming film directed by Shekhar Kapur.

    Sharing the news on Instagram, Saboor congratulated her sister, writing: “Proud sister. Your hard work paid off. We believe that sky is your limit, so go out and spread your wings and soar high.”

    Meanwhile, Sajal’s colleagues and other Pakistani celebrities including Humayun Saeed, Mahira Khan, Bilal Abbas Khan, Ali Rehman Khan, Zara Noor Abbas and Yasir Hussain celebrated Sajal’s big achievement and congratulated the actor on achieving the milestone.

    Humayun and Mahira said that this was a very proud moment for them.

    Ali Rehman said that this was the “best news” he has heard all year.

    Yasir predicted that Shabana [Azmi] jee will soon also agree that Sajal is one of Pakistan’s finest actors.

    Mira Sethi said she was thrilled with the news. The two worked together in Ye Dil Mera.

    Bilal Abbas, Gohar Rasheed, Saadia Ghaffar and Hassan Hayat Khan wished Sajal all the best for her upcoming project.

    As per details, Sajal will essay a groundbreaking role in the film. She is currently shooting for the film in London.

    Meanwhile, even producer Jemima was excited with the development.

    Jemima also shared that her and Prime Minister Imran Khan’s sons Qasim and Suleman are ecstatic that musician Asim C has agreed to be part of the film.

    Written and produced under Goldsmith’s production house, Instinct Productions, What’s Love got to do with It? is set between London and South Asia and will explore cross-cultural conflicts of love and marriage.

    A release date for the film has not yet been announced.

  • Govt officials get secretly vaccinated amid delay in mass vaccination, claims journalist

    Govt officials get secretly vaccinated amid delay in mass vaccination, claims journalist

    Amid reports of a delay in the procurement of vaccine, senior journalist Sohail Warraich has claimed that the government is in no hurry to order the coronavirus vaccine as most of the senior government members have already been vaccinated against the deadly disease.

    In an article published in Jang, Warraich implied the bigwigs of this country are in no hurry to inoculate the masses as they now consider themselves safe following the administration of the vaccine. His article was shared by former Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) minister Miftah Ismail, who retweeted the column on his Twitter handle.

    A similar claim was made by journalist Saleem Safi as well. He tweeted that the senior government officials and aides of the prime minister have already been vaccinated. “These people are now distributing the vaccine to their near and dear ones,” he alleged.

    Federal Minister for Information Shibli Faraz rejected these claims. Talking to The Current, Faraz said he hasn’t heard anything like this to the best of his knowledge.

    Asad Umar, who heads the National Command Operations Centre to fight the virus, also denied these reports while talking to a media outlet.

    He said a proposal for the earliest vaccination of strategic leadership was presented earlier, but it was rejected by the government. “I, however, do not know if someone got themselves vaccinated in secret,” he added.

    As the pharmaceutical companies, such as Pfizer, started to roll out vaccines, the government announced that Pakistan will have the vaccine by March 2020. However, a recent report revealed that the government has not even placed the final order for the procurement nor has any manufacturer agreed to sell it to Pakistan as of yet.

    PM’s aide on health Dr Faisal Sultan was quoted by The News saying that Pakistan has yet to place a final order and strike a deal with a manufacturer.

    On Dec 31, it was reported that the government had decided to purchase 1.2million doses of a Chinese vaccine, Sinopharm, amid a worsening coronavirus outbreak across the world.

    Pakistan had planned to vaccinate its population in three phases: In the first phase, frontline health workers will be inoculated; the second phase will be focused on the elderly; the third phase will be for the general populace.

  • Asim Azhar asks PCB to stop ignoring him

    Asim Azhar asks PCB to stop ignoring him

    Asim Azhar has shared that if he wasn’t a singer, he would have been a cricketer.

    Sharing a video of himself while batting, Asim said:“Agar mai singer nahi hota tou…shayad cricketer hota.”

    Later, sharing the post on his Instagram stories, Asim wrote: “PCB stop ignoring this young, deserving talent.”

    Read more – Asim Azhar reportedly dropped from music show for being too young

    Meanwhile, Shadab Khan and Azam Khan were concerned about Asim’s revelation, with Shadab asking if “this batsman is available for PSL” and Khan asking Azhar to stop stealing his job.

    However, Azhar Ali gave Asim’s batting a thumbs up.

    Given his batting technique, we have to admit that Asim ain’t lying – the Tum Tum star does have the right moves for the field.

  • Archaeologists find evidence of third-century settlement in Sindh

    Researchers from Shah Abdul Latif University’s Department of Archeology have found traces of a third-century settlement in Brahmanabad, Sindh. Brahmanabad is believed to have been set up in the eighth-century by Muhammad Bin Qasim. The area was the historical capital of the Muslim Caliphate in Sindh during the eighth century, under the Umayyad Caliphate and then under the Abbasid Caliphate from the year 750 AD to 1006 AD.

    According to a report in Arab News, a team of around 20 archaeologists started excavation on the site in December as part of a joint project of the Sindh culture department and Shah Abdul Latif University in Khairpur. The supervision was led by Dr Ghulam Muhiuddin Veesar.

    Speaking to the publication, Veesar said: “Through [the] material we got, we can say that this settlement of Brahmanabad also existed in the third century AD and people lived here, proving that the settlement is of a pre-Islamic era.”

    “We have done both vertical and horizontal excavations so that we may know its cultural phases to determine when the settlement started, how long people were living there,” said Dr Veesar, adding: “Another important feature we found is that the whole settlement is established on a riverbed. They formed the settlement on mounds of natural silt sand dunes of river bed.”

    Sindh Minister for Culture, Syed Sardar Ali Shah referred to the findings as of “high importance”.

    “It is a great achievement,” he said. “The detailed report is awaited, but in the future, these findings can be helpful in connecting the linkage with other archaeological sites like Mohenjo Daro.”

    Read more – 1,300-year-old Hindu temple discovered in KP

    This is the third such excavation on the archaeological site in the last 180 years. The first one took place in 1854 during British rule and the second one was in 1962 by a government of Pakistan team.

  • !پتا نہیں عمران خان

    !پتا نہیں عمران خان

    یہ کہنا مبالغہ آرائی نہ ہوگی کہ میں نے اپنی 70 فیصد زندگی “پتا نہیں ” کہہ کر گزاری ہی ۔ کوئی پوچھے کہ کیا کھانا ہے، میرا جواب ہوتا ہے ” پتا نہیں ” کوئی پوچھے کہ جانا کہاں ہے ،میرا جواب ہوتا ہے ” پتا نہیں ” ،کیا پہننا ہے ،کس سے رابطہ کرنا ہے، کیا دیکھنا ہے، کیا پڑھنا ہے، زندگی کا کوئی بھی کام ہو ، میری کوشش ہوتی ہے کہ ” پتا نہیں ” کہہ کر ہی مسئلے کا حل نکل آئے گا ۔ مسئلے کا اگر حل نہ بھی نکلے تو کم از کم میرے فیصلے سے مسئلہ نہ ذیادہ خراب اور نہ ہی سہی ہوتا ہے۔

    یہ تو خیر میری نجی زندگی کی روداد ہے ،لیکن یہ ” پتا نہیں ” کی عادت تو ہماری موجودہ حکومت نے بھی اپنا لی ہوئی ہے۔ بے نیازی اپنے محبوب میں تو اچھی لگتی ہے لیکن اپنی حکومت میں اس قدر بے نیازی دیکھ کر میرا پتا نہیں بھی ” لگ پتا گیا ” بن چکا ہے ۔ میں یہ پورے وسوق سے کہہ سکتی ہوں کہ اس ” پتا نہیں ” نے زندگی میں مجھے کچھ خاص آگے نہیں پہنچایا ۔لیکن موجودہ حکومت کو شاید یہ پہلے سے ہی معلوم ہے کہ وہ شاید عمر بھر اب شہرِ اقتدار سے نہیں جائے گی ۔ میرے وزیر اعظم عمران خان ،جو ذرائع کے مطابق اس ملک کو چلانے کے ذمہ دار ہیں ، نے اپنے دور حکومت میں اکثر و بیشتر بڑے خوبصورت انداز سے اپنی بے نیازی کا اظہار کیا ہے ۔ کبھی وہ بڑی معصومیت سے کہتے ہیں ” مجھے تو پتا ہی نہیں تھا ” ، اور کبھی کہتے ہیں “مجھے تو ٹی وی سے پتا چلا ” اور کبھی وہ کہتے ہیں ” مجھے تو میری بیوی بشریٰ نے بتایا ” ۔ مجھے ان کی بے نیازی پر ہمیشہ عمر اکمل یاد آ جاتے ہیں جنہوں نے ایک بار کہا تھا ” مجھے نہیں پتا وہاں کیا ہو رہا تھا” ۔ یہ جملہ شاید عمر اکمل نے بھی اس حکومت کے لیے ہی کہا تھا۔

    ہمارے وزیرِ اعظم ایک نجی ٹی وی کو انٹرویو دے رہے تھے جس میں میزبان کی جانب سے مہنگائی پر سوال اٹھایا گیا ۔ سوال میں پوچھا گیا عوام کیا کرے کیسے گزارا کرے ۔ میزبان کا کہنا تھا کہ لوگ خود کشیا ں کرنا شروع کر دیں گے ۔ جس پر ہمارے وزیر اعظم نے کہا ” تو پھر کیا کریں؟ ” میں نے یہ جملہ کافی بار سنا تا کہ مجھے یقین آ سکے کہ کوئی ایسا بھی ہے دنیا میں جس کو مجھ سے ذیادہ ” نہیں پتا ” ۔ ابھی اس ” پتا نہیں ” سے شناسائی بڑھ ہی رہی تھی کہ وزیرِ اعظم عمران خان نے کہا ” ہم 5 سال کے لیے آتے ہیں ، کچھ سمجھ نہیں آتا اور وقت گزر جاتا ہے ” ۔ پھر وزیراعظم نے ایک محفل میں یہ بھی کہ ڈالا کہ “ہمیں حکومت میں نہیں تھے تو کچھ نظر نہیں آتا تھا”۔ لیکن عمران خان صاحب! آپ کو تو اب بھی کچھ پتا نہیں چل رہا! یہ ایسے ہی جیسے آپ کسی ایسی شادی میں جائیں جہاں نہ آپ کسی کو جانتے ہوں ، نہ کوئی آپ کو جانتا ہو ۔ اور ادھر ادھر دیکھنے میں ہی وقت بیت جائے۔
    ملک میں کورونا اسی طرح پھیل رہا ہے جیسے وفاقی حکومت کی کیبنٹ پھیل رہی ہے ۔ہم جو رو رہے تھے کہ چین کی ویکسین سے خاص فرق نہیں پڑنا، اسی دوران وزیر اعظم کے معاون خصوصی ڈاکٹر فیصل نے بتایا کہ پاکستانی حکومت نے تو ویکسین کا آرڈر ہی نہیں دیا ۔اور شاید حکومت کو یہ بھی نہیں پتا ویکسین کون سی خریدنی ہے ۔ عمران خان کہتے تھے کہ باہر سے لوگ پاکستان آئیں گے نوکریاں کرنے ۔فالحال تو باہر سے صرف کورونا آیا ہے، اور وہ شاید کہیں جانے بھی نہیں والا ۔اسی “پتا نہیں ” کے سحر میں دو دن پہلے کپتان نے کہا کہ مہنگائی پر جلد ہی قابو پا لیں گے ۔اور آج میں نے پٹرول سے لے کر میری جینے کی تمنا تک کو مہنگا ہوتے دیکھا ۔
    مزے کی بات یہ ہے کہ وزیر اعظم اپنے ہر خطاب میں ہمیشہ کہتے پائے گئے ہیں کہ ان کو سب پتا ہے ۔ ہم ان کی بات سے متفق ہیں۔ لیکن جو ہمارے کپتان کو پتا ہے وہ نہ کہنے کے لائق ہے اور نہ سننے کے لائق ہے۔ جس کی سب سے بڑی مثال شیعہ ہزارہ کا دلخراش واقعہ ہے ۔کپتان کو یہ کہیں سے پتا چل گیا کہ لواحقین ان کو بلیک میل کر رہے ہیں۔نا صرف یہ،بلکہ جیسے جرمنی اور جاپان کی سرحدیں ملائی تھیں، اسی طرح ہزارہ شیعہ کو ڈاکو مافیا سے بھی ملا دیا ۔
    میرے پیارے وزیرِ اعظم ، اگر آپ کے پتا نہیں کہنے کا ایک ڈالر ملتا ہوتا تو آج آپ کی قوم لاکھوں کروڑوں کی مالک ہوتی ۔آپ کے ” پتا نہیں ” کی وجہ سے عوام یہ سوچنے پر مجبور ہو گئی ہے یا تو آپ کے پاس اسمارٹ فون کے بجائے نوکیا 3310 فون ہے یا پھر آپ کے پاس سگنل ہی نہیں آرہے ؟ آپ کے اس پتا نہیں کی وجہ سے ہم سب ایک بے یقینی کے عالم یہی سوچتے رہتے ہیں کہ پتا نہیں بجلی آئے گی کہ نہیں، پتا نہیں گیس آئے گی کہ نہیں ، پتا نہیں پٹرول سستا ہوگا کہ نہیں، پتا نہیں آٹا ملتا رہے گا کہ نہیں ، پتا نہیں چینی ملے گی یا نہیں ،پتا نہیں ہم رہیں گے کہ نہیں؟

    اب خود ہی بتائیے جب آپ ہی کو کچھ پتا نہیں ہوگا ، کچھ خبر نہ ہوگی ، تو ہمارا کیا ہوگا ؟

    وہ میر تقی میر نے شاید یہ شعر ہماری موجودہ حکومت کے لیے ہی کہا تھا:

    پتۤہ پتۤہ بوٹا بوٹا
    حال ہمارا جانے ہے
    جانے نہ جانے گل ہی نہ
    جانے باغ تو سارا جانے ہے

  • Imran tells spokespersons to stop sharing details of party meetings with media

    Imran tells spokespersons to stop sharing details of party meetings with media

    Prime Minister Imran Khan has stopped the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) spokespersons from sharing the details of the party meetings with after details of a spokesperson meeting were released to the media.

    According to reports, the PM is not happy with the fact that the details of the party spokespersons meetings, organised on a regular basis to discuss the internal affairs and future strategy, make it to the newspapers even though there pertain to the internal affairs of the party.

    According to the PM, the meetings of the party spokespersons are held to strengthen the party narrative and these decisions should not be made public. He said the details of the meeting have been “misreported” on multiple occasions while directing the party spokesperson to keep these details under wraps.

    Recently, a news about PM aide Nadeem Afzal Chan’s resignation was being reported in the media before the resignation reached the PM, prompting a stern response from Imran. Recently, PM Imran Khan had also expressed annoyance with his ministers, saying if someone had a problem with the government narrative, they should step down from the cabinet.

  • Pro-Modi anchor knew about ‘highly confidential’ Balakot strikes in advance

    Pro-Modi anchor knew about ‘highly confidential’ Balakot strikes in advance

    Republic TV Editor Arnab Goswami knew about the Balakot strikes three days before the Indian air force bombed an alleged militant camp inside the Pakistani territory, revealed a Whatsapp chat between Goswami and Partho Dasgupta, the former head of India’s Broadcast Audience Research Council (BRAC).

    According to Indian media reports, the purported chat is mentioned in a transcript that is part of a 3,400-page supplementary chargesheet filed by the Mumbai Police in their investigation into the alleged Television Ratings Point scam.

    In the conversation on Feb 23, 2019, Goswami said that ‘something big will happen’ and three days later, the IAF planes carried out a strike in Pakistan, bringing the two countries on the brink of a full-fledged war. The conversation also suggested that the strikes were conducted to boost ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) popularity ahead of the national elections.

    There are also many instances in the transcripts that show Goswami boasting about his proximity to the Prime Minister’s Office and the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting. There is another instance where he says that “all the ministers are with us”, reported The Hindu.

    In other conversations, Goswami also complained about other news channels getting better ratings than his (Republic TV) and Dasgupta assures him that necessary steps will be taken to “clean the data”, it reported.

    Following the release of these Whatsapp conversations, #ArnabGoswamiExposed started trending on Twitter, with Indian users demanding accountability of those involved in the episode.