The Rawalpindi district administration on Monday said that 104 passengers who were flown in from Abu Dhabi have tested positive for coronavirus.
“Out of 209 passengers, 104 tested positive for COVID-19,” the district administration said, adding that the flight carrying the passengers had arrived in Islamabad on April 28.
Following the SOPs prepared by the government, all the passengers were screened at the airport and were shifted to the quarantine centre at Fatima Jinnah Women University.
With the country having blocked all international commercial flights since mid-March — a ban that’s now set to continue for an indefinite period of time — many of the country’s residents have struggled to find a path back to their homeland, making government repatriation flights a necessity.
On the other hand, Pakistan has reported 22 more fatalities from novel coronavirus as the death toll in the country has reached 471. The nationwide tally of COVID-19 patients jumped to 20,725 while over a thousand cases were reported in 24 hours.
According to the latest figures by the National Command and Operation Center, Sindh remains the worst-hit province by the pandemic followed by Punjab, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP) and Balochistan.
Till now 7,882 coronavirus cases have been confirmed in Sindh, 7,646 in Punjab, 3,129 in KP, 1,218 in Balochistan, 415 in Islamabad, 364 in Gilgit-Baltistan and 71 in Azad Jammu & Kashmir (AJK).
Earlier in the day, it was reported that three crew members of a special PIA flight from Australia had also tested positive for COVID-19.
The PIA staffers had performed duties on the flight from Melbourne to Lahore.
Ghani Tiger is among the first singers and rappers in Pakistan who got famous through TikTok. Hailing from Pasrur near Sialkot, Ghani is one of the most followed Tiktokers of Pakistan. The rapper recently took to social media to tell how his father was brutally murdered.
In a video message, he explained the incident of his father’s murder. Ghani told how a group of men came with rods and pistols and murdered his beloved father. They also shot his brother who is now in the hospital.
He accused his city’s organization of ATI Pasrur and named the culprits involved. According to Ghani, almost 50 to 60 people beat up his father. He urged Prime Minister Imran Khan to take notice of the incident. Ghani said he would not be quiet until his appeal was heard among the highest official ranks.
Soon after he posted, the video went viral and #JusticeForDawoodButt started trending. Zara Noor Abbas also condemned the incident and demanded justice for Dawood.
It pierces my heart to see that even in times like this and the day and age like this, a son has to beg for justice for his father's death, Online. How many more murders to happen before we can get goons behind bars? #justicefordawood
— Zara Noor Abbas Siddiqui (@ZaraNoorAbbas) May 3, 2020
This video has shocked me! This young tiktoker named Ghani Tiger is speaking of an ordeal that is unbearable.
Fortunately, Punjab police took immediate action against the culprits and have claimed to have arrested three culprits involved in the incident. However, further inquiry is still in progress.
پولیس نے اس افسوسناک واقعہ کی ایف آئی آر فوری درج کر کے 3 ملزمان کو گرفتار کر لیا ہے جلد دیگر ملزمان کو بھی گرفتار کر لیا جائے گا۔
— Punjab Police Official (@OfficialDPRPP) May 3, 2020
An approval has been given for the allotment of up to 25 acres of state land, which was meant for the families of the martyred soldiers and war veterans under the Army Welfare Scheme (AWS), to 47 civilian government officials instead.
According to Dawn, the Punjab government has made the allotments without legal sanction on the orders of former military ruler Gen (r) Pervez Musharraf in contravention of merit and law. The report also quoted two officials at the Chief Minister’s (CM) Secretariat also confirming this on the condition of anonymity.
The Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) government had cancelled the allotment, which had been ordered by the former dictator during January 2004 and May 2008 in alleged violation of the Colonisation of Government Land (Punjab) Act 1912 and the allotment policy framed in 1962 under it for the AWS.
After the cancellation order, the PML-N government had also rejected multiple summaries put up to former CM Shehbaz Sharif for ratification. The land branch of General Headquarters (GHQ) had first approached the Punjab government in April 2009 to not revoke the allotments. The military was of the opinion that the “allotments made to the civil officials may be treated as closed chapter” and offered to work out allotment modalities for the future in consultation with the provincial government and the provincial Board of Revenue (BoR). However, Shehbaz had not obliged.
CM Secretariat reportedly said that around 837 acres of the AWS land had been allotted to civilian officials without consulting the provincial government. The land had been allotted in districts of Bahawalpur, Pakpattan, Khanewal, Sahiwal, Muzaffargarh, Bahawalnagar, Rahim Yar Khan and Sadiqabad.
The former CM rejected another summary prepared by the BoR in February 2012, as the then Punjab chief secretary noted that it didn’t augur well for the civil service and the overall good governance.
According to the fresh summary approved by the Usman Buzdar government to restore and validate the allotments, the Shehbaz government had cancelled the allotments and retrieved the allotted land from the beneficiary officials in 2010, because the land was actually allotted to the military for a specific purpose under the law.
Those who had sold the land allotted to them were told by the Shehbaz administration to deposit the sale proceeds to the provincial treasury. The provincial officials who had benefited from the GHQ’s decision were suspended while the matter of the three DMG officers who got the land was sent to the Establishment Division. Apparently, the Establishment Division did not take any action against them.
The prominent beneficiaries include DMG officers – Sardar Ahmed Nawaz Sukhera (currently the federal cabinet division secretary), Dr Faisal Zahoor and Syed Imtiaz Hussain Shah. Ex-PCS officials who will benefit from the government decision include Mohammad Zahid Ikram, Sikandar Ali Bokhari, Syed Najaf Abbas Bokhari, Malik Mohammad Ramzan, Mohammad Ashraf Yousufi, Abdul Ghafoor Virk, Dur Mohammad Khan, Irshad Mohyuddin, Syed Zahid Hussain Jilani, Mohammad Ashfaq, Mohammad Akram Bhatti, Amir Karim Khan (currently PSO to CM Buzdar), Mushtaq Ahmed Anjum and Mohammad Azam Khan. The remaining officials mostly included district revenue officials.
Eight beneficiary officers then filed a petition with the Lahore High Court (LHC) against the cancellation order of the Punjab government. In June 2013, the court directed the BoR member (colonies) to set aside the cancellation order and decide the matter afresh in accordance with the law after considering all the legal and factual submissions made by the parties and after following the due process as per law.
The GHQ then cancelled the allotments in October 2013 in its papers.
Officials at the CM Secretariat said as long as Shehbaz was there, no one dared to bring the matter up again.
Later in November 2019, the DG Lands at GHQ wrote to the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) government led by Usman Buzdar for the restoration of the allotments, stating that “all the orders of president/chief executive of Pakistan were subsequently given constitutional protection and also upheld by the Supreme Court of Pakistan in the Tikka Iqbal case”.
Strangely enough the DG Lands did not mention that the said judgement was overturned by a 14-member bench in July 2009 in the PCO Judges case.
Two days after the receipt of the DG Lands’ letter, the BoR member (colonies) initiated a fresh summary for the Punjab CM, requesting Buzdar to “take an explicit decision whether to withdraw the order cancelling the impugned allotments”. The CM referred the matter to the standing committee of the cabinet on legislative business that in February endorsed the viewpoint of the DG Lands, GHQ.
The CM later approved the allotments “as recommended by the standing committee subject to ratification by the cabinet” given last week.
We’ve seen Adnan Siddiqui essay a lot of roles on our TV screens but we never thought we’d see him as Wolverine from X-Men.
Adnan’s son Zayd recently dressed up his father as Wolverine and the actor couldn’t resist showing off his son’s skills on social media.
“This is the best time we can spend with our kids, how about letting them use their creativity on you,” wrote the actor.
“Here’s Zayd’s depiction of Wolverine (X-Men) on yours truly. Master Zayd, making his debut in direction, styling, hair and photography,” he further said. “Liked his debut?”
Last week, Adnan was involved in a controversy after television show host Aamir Liaquat made a callous remark on the deaths of Irrfan Khan and Sri Devi. After the clip of their exchange went viral on social media, Adnan regretted being on the show and apologised to the families of both the late actors for Liaquat’s remarks. Later, Aamir also apologised for his comments and said that he didn’t realise he was being insensitive.
One pilot and three flight attendants of the Pakistan International Airlines (PIA), who had performed duties on a special flight from Melbourne to Lahore, have tested positive for the new coronavirus — COVID-19.
As per the details, the national carrier last month ran a one-off flight from Melbourne to Lahore to help hundreds of Pakistanis return home from Australia.
With the country having blocked all international commercial flights since mid-March — a ban that’s now set to continue for an indefinite period of time — many of the country’s residents have struggled to find a path back to their homeland, making government repatriation flights a necessity.
A PIA Boeing 777-200LR first flew from Lahore to Melbourne on Friday, April 24. PK8962 departed Pakistan at 5 pm local time, reaching Melbourne the next day at 10:30 am after a journey of 12 hours and 30 minutes.
Allowing time for the crew to rest before the return leg, the Melbourne-Lahore flight, PK8972, departed at 1 pm on April 26, reaching the provincial capital of Punjab at 9 pm the same day, 13 hours after wheels-up.
PIA’s Boeing 777-200LR jets can normally accommodate up to 310 passengers, but this repatriation service from Melbourne was capped at 250 passengers.
Over a week on, reports say that three crew members of the special flight have tested positive for coronavirus.
The crew members of PIA were earlier awaiting their COVID-19 test results and have now been shifted to Combined Military Hospital (CMH) Lahore. Among them are flight attendants Waqar Farooqui, Sofia Shaikh and Ahmed Ammad as well as first officer Shakil Akram.
Saba Qamar, who had the honour of working with Irrfan Khan in the film Hindi Medium, in a recent interview opened up on her time with the actor on set and shared that he sang a song for her the first time they met.
“I’ve learned a lot from Irrfan,” said Saba. “Working with him was nothing less than a fan moment for me throughout. As an actor, I believe that acting is actually behaving truthfully under imaginary circumstances. And I actually saw that in him.”
Saba said that her on-set memories with the late actor were all about “fun conversations.”
“There was never a dull moment when he was around. We used to crack jokes with each other all the time. He always used to make me learn new things and give pro tips on life,” she said, adding that he was also very philosophical.
Recalling one her fondest memories with him, Saba shared that on their first meeting, Irrfan sang a song for her.
“When I entered the room where he was sitting, he started singing the song Badan Pe Sitaray…for me. I’ll always cherish the entire time I’ve spent with him.”
Saba further said that she wished that “things were better between our countries.”
“I am of the belief that acting is a form of blended art that shouldn’t be restricted to a particular type or even a country. It should be assorted in such a way that even we enjoy it and so do our fans and audiences. It is this assortment which I miss. I’d love to do more movies for my fans if I get any opportunity.”
The total number of coronavirus cases in Pakistan, by the time this was written, stood at 19,854 and the same is likely to reach the 20,000 mark some time today or by tomorrow morning.
Every ten days, the number of COVID-19 cases in Pakistan double. Just look at the month of April and how many cases increased, especially after easing down the lockdown. The government, however, thinks that coronavirus has not been “as fatal in Pakistan as it has been in many other countries”, especially the west.
Minister for Planning, Development and Special Initiatives Asad Umar recently said, “Coronavirus has caused 58 per cent more deaths in the United States (US), 207 per cent more in Spain and 124 per cent more in the United Kingdom (UK) as compared to Pakistan in the same period.” Even if we think the mortality rate is lower when compared to other countries, it does not mean we have to be lax about it. Official projections predict 150,000 cases by the end of this month.
What was even more surprising was how, in a recent speech, Prime Minister (PM) Imran Khan shifted the blame of the lockdown to the “elite”. He said the decision to impose a lockdown was taken by the elite and the rich, without thinking of the poor. PM Imran tweeted to that effect also while felicitating Muslims for Ramzan.
Ramazan Mubarak to Muslims across the world. We in Pakistan must use this holy month to ask Allah for forgiveness for neglecting the poor & vulnerable in our society. We as a nation have been elite-centric in our policies, with no thought for these people, incl in the pandemic
The premier blames the elite and rich for taking this decision when it was indeed he and his government that imposed the lockdown. Granted that Imran himself was against the lockdown and finally gave in due to the health emergency but blaming the elite, in this case, is quite misplaced. The World Health Organization (WHO) and others who are dealing with the coronavirus pandemic have recommended lockdowns and aggressive testing apart from social distancing and other measures that we have to take in order to avoid falling prey to this pandemic.
China went for a lockdown and PM Imran doesn’t tire of giving China’s example so why blame the rich and the elite for a lockdown in Pakistan — a lockdown that is now not much of a lockdown either. Traffic has increased, more shops are open, and except for Sindh, mosques are open as well during Ramzan.
While we acknowledge that self-isolation is a privilege that isn’t afforded by many, especially the poor, we do not have the answer to how we will cope with an outbreak if cases start to rise exponentially. Doctors have recently warned that Pakistan’s healthcare system will collapse if this happens. So where will the poor go if lockdown is relaxed and they get coronavirus?
The rich and elite and privileged will go to private hospitals but what about the poor? We have to choose between struggle and death, and can only hope that the cases in Pakistan remain low.
To make decision-making easier for their users, Netflix has recently started sharing a list of ‘Top 10’ movies or seasons which are trending in different countries. According to a blog post from the company, the Top 10 row will be updated every day with “the most popular titles within a subscriber’s country, and the position of the row will also change depending on how relevant the shows and movies in the list are to their interests.”
As of Friday (May 1) night, the top three things trending on Netflix are Diriliş: Ertuğrul, Love Aaj Kal and Extraction, while the two films are also the top two in the Movie Category. While we all know that Diriliş: Ertuğrul is a hit among Pakistani audiences, Extraction and Love Aaj Kal are new additions to the streaming service.
Like any other Pakistani who grew up on Bollywood films, I couldn’t resist watching Love Aaj Kal. I mean Imtiaz Ali, Sara Ali Khan and Kartik Aryan — bring it on. As for Extraction, because for the most part, my job does require me to keep up with the latest trends, I decided to step out of my usual romantic comedies/dramas zone and watch something different and see whether it was worth the Netflix hype.
Let’s start with Extraction. The Chris Hemsworth action-thriller has been creating a buzz since he went to India for its shoot. A day before its release, Hemsworth on social media had said that “making this film was one of the most exhausting but rewarding experiences I’ve ever had on a set.”
He further said: “We set out to make the most insane, intense action film and I couldn’t be prouder of what we’ve achieved.” Unfortunately, the film only made me insane with the amount of bloodshed it had it in. To be honest, I’m generally not a big fan of action films but I do enjoy them from time to time. The two-hour-long film, which I finished in three sittings, was just a Bollywood film on steroids given that a lot of actors [for example Randeep Hooda, Pankaj Tripathi] in the film were from India.
The film is focused around Tyler Rake (played by Hemsworth), a black-market mercenary and former Australian Special Air Service Regiment soldier with a troubled past. From Rake’s first scene in the film, one can tell that he is the sort of person who likes to challenge and see death in the eye. Except for a few glimpses from his past, Rake’s character isn’t adequately developed. Anyways, Rake is hired by a fellow mercenary Nik Khan (Golshifteh Farahani) to rescue Ovi Mahajan Jr. (Rudhraksh Jaiswal), the son of India’s biggest drug lord (Pankaj Tripathi), from Dhaka, Bangladesh who has been abducted by Bangladesh’s biggest drug lord, Amir Asif (Priyanshu Painyuli).
The film is just one, long and bloody action sequence. There are limited dialogues and the characters just run through the narrow streets of Dhaka as they try to escape Bangladesh’s most notorious drug lord. They jump from building to building, kill countless people on the way and lockdown an entire city. The ending is as abrupt as the beginning – there is no character development or plot development. So unless you want to see only action, I’d advice you to skip the film altogether.
Now onto Love Aaj Kal. If I had to sum up the film in one word, or two, I’d say half-baked. The story, the characters, the plot, everything about the film is half-baked. The film follows the same premise as Imtiaz Ali’s first Love Aaj Kal, which had two love stories running side by side.
Zoe (Sara Ali Khan) is a free-spirited but ambitious girl who wants to make a career. She is bold, speaks her mind and does what she feels like, which sometimes gets a bit over the top. Veer, on the other hand, is a sensitive guy who looks at life differently than Zoe. The two meet in a club and while Zoe just wants to have a one-night stand, Veer decides that it’s not right because Zoe is “special”. How he decided that within an hour is beyond my understanding. Zoe gets annoyed with this and leaves his house and goes back to her life. Except Veer starts stalking her, not in the 90s way by singing songs and all, but by getting a spot at the co-working space where she sits. Soon the two grow closer and get into a relationship but Zoe’s mother who wants her daughter to become independent first urges her to not give up on her career for marriage. This confuses Zoe who then breaks up with Veer. The breakup scene was so ridiculously cringed that you cannot help but wonder how Imtiaz Ali even came up with it. What follows afterwards is a typical Bollywood story of how two people who are meant to be together will find their way back to each other. In between all this, Raghuvendra “Raghu” Singh, who is the owner of the cafe where Zoe works, narrates his 20-year-old love story to Zoe to help her understand her own feelings and make her decisions.
What I did not like about the film was first Zoe’s character. It was highly irritating and Sara’s acting was also terrible. Especially the scenes in which she was drunk or crying. In fact, her own dialogue basically sums up her acting: “Tum mujhe tang karnay lagay ho“.
It appears that all the attention was paid to Zoe and Raj’s character because Veer’s character was highly underdeveloped. We don’t understand his profession, neither do we understand why he spends his days just buzzing around Sara – does he not have his own life. And to top it all, his insecurities deriving from his parent’s relationship are summed up in a rap song, which is more confusing than explanatory.
While the plot did have its heart in the right place, the film was not engaging enough. It lacked the humour [like in Jab We Met] or simplicity [Highway] which Imtiaz usually beautifully weaves into his films. Sorry, Imtiaz, I really did try my best to like the movie but it just wasn’t happening.
As we wash our hands for so many times in a day and work through multiple bottles of sanitizer, here are a few home remedies to give your hands soothing relief from constant washing and sanitizing.
Moisturize
An easy way to counter the dryness that arises from excessive washing is by always making sure to moisturize hands after washing and sanitizing. Coconut oil is gives relief to dry skin and massaging it onto the hands before bedtime can be very useful.
The ritual also has the added benefit of relieving tension from either household chores or work from home. Just press the middle of your palm, stretch out your fingers by interlocking them in and out and rotate your wrists inwards and outwards for added relaxation.
DIY scrub for hands
As all the salons are shut down until further notice and we cannot get any manicure. Home beauty treatments are a great way to self pamper and a good distraction from the daily stress and lockdown tension.
DIY scrub is also easy to make. All you have to do is just mix ground coffee with honey and lemon and massage your hands with the mixture, leave for a few minutes and rinse.
Step 1: Add warm water to a tub-like vessel with salt, along with a few drops of almond oil (you can substitute this with any oil, or even aloe vera gel). Drop-in some mint leaves and some hand-wash liquid. Soak your hands for at least 20 minutes.
Step 2: Wipe your hands and follow with scrubbing with a pumice stone. Rub a little bit of an alcohol solution after the scrub (you can use sanitizer for its antibacterial properties) and rinse it with water.
Step 3: Clip your nails or file them as you prefer.
Step 4: Use a moisturizer or specialized hand creams to complete, then neatly paint your nails
