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Tag: Pakistan

  • Woman commando with henna on hands breaks the internet

    Woman commando with henna on hands breaks the internet

    The picture of a woman commando of Punjab’s Elite Force, holding a gun in her hands with henna tattoos, has gone viral over the internet.

    The image, first shared by self-proclaimed security analyst Zaid Hamid, took social media by storm on Tuesday.

    https://twitter.com/ZaidZamanHamid/status/1150842268162699273

    “Super cute… Hina on hands and guns in hands… on duty Pakistani girls… [sic],” he wrote while tweeting the image that has now gone viral. Hamid also wondered if the commando had recently gotten married.

    The image has been receiving mixed reaction on Twitter.

    The Elite Force of Punjab Police specialises in counter-terrorist operations and VIP security duties. It is known for acting against serious crimes and performing high-risk operations that can’t be carried out by the regular police.

    According to information released by the Human Rights Commission of Pakistan (HRCP) in 2010, women first became part of the police force in the subcontinent in 1939 when seven female constables and a head constable were inducted to contain female agitators of a farmers’ movement in Punjab.

    There was no significant change in numbers until 1952 when 25 constables, two head constables and an assistant superintendant were recruited.

    Inclusion of women to Pakistan’s anti-terror squads was initiated in the 1990s. With women joining the force in large numbers over the years, the trend has continued since.

    In October 2001, less than a month after the 9/11 attacks, the first women-only anti-terror squad was established in the country.

  • ‘Rising prices, higher taxes’: Honda halts production in Pakistan

    ‘Rising prices, higher taxes’: Honda halts production in Pakistan

    As car sales drop amid rising prices due to the imposition of higher taxes and rupee depreciation, Honda Atlas Cars Pakistan (HACP) has halted production in the country for 10 days, Dawn reported Saturday.

    According to reports, HACP shut down its plant for 10 days as its inventories piled up to 2,000 units while Indus Motor Company (IMC), which produces Toyota models in Pakistan, has also decided to stop car production for eight days, two days every week, during this month.

    The report quoted HACP and IMC executives as saying that their decision to scale down production during July was informed by plummeting sales in the first 10 days of the month.

    “Our inventories from the last month and the first 10 days of July have grown rapidly because of the steep increase in car prices after currency devaluation as well as the imposition of Advance Customs Duty (ACD) on all our imports and Federal Excise Duty (FED) on assembled cars,” an HACP senior executive said.

    “It has left us with no option but to shut down the plant to cut production. If the present trend holds, we expect our sales to drop to less than 30,000 units this business year (April 2019-March 2020) from over 48,000 units last year.”

    An IMC official also gave the same reasons for “observing eight no-production days” during July. The executive, however, did not give the size of inventory the company has built so far, saying the production cuts could increase next month if sales do not pick up.

  • ‘Every story has an end’: Sania Mirza says she is proud of everything Shoaib Malik has achieved

    ‘Every story has an end’: Sania Mirza says she is proud of everything Shoaib Malik has achieved

    Indian tennis star and Pakistani cricketer Shoaib Malik’s wife, Sania Mirza, has said she is proud of her husband, who announced retirement from ODI cricket following Pakistan’s last match of the 2019 Cricket World Cup.

    “Today I retire from One Day International [ODI] cricket. Huge thank you to all the players I have played with, coaches I have trained under, family, friends, media and sponsors. Most importantly, my fans. I love you all. PakistanZindabad,” the all-rounder tweeted, ending his career spanning over 20 years.

    As soon as Malik announced his decision, Sania took to social media to congratulate the veteran on an astounding career.

    “Every story has an end, but in life, every ending is a new beginning.  Shoaib Malik, you have proudly played for your country for 20 years and you continue to do so with so much honour and humility. Izhaan and I are so proud of everything you have achieved but also for who you are,” she wrote.

    “I am retiring from one-day cricket. I’m sad as I’m leaving the format I loved the most but this will allow me to spend more time with my family and concentrate on the Twenty20 World Cup next year,” Malik had said in a press conference after the match against Bangladesh Friday.

    Malik played 287 ODIs and scored 7,534 runs with nine hundreds. His performance in the 2019 World Cup, however, left his fans disappointed.

  • Karachi teen accuses mother of ‘getting her raped for money’

    Karachi teen accuses mother of ‘getting her raped for money’

    A 15-year-old girl has accused her mother of having her “sexually assaulted for money” after she refused to get into a relationship with the alleged rapist, Geo News reported.

    Reports quoted the Gulistane Johar resident as saying that her mother was “a woman of bad character” and eight months ago had told her to get into a relationship with a man named Javed.

    “Upon refusal, she [the mother] beat me up and had me raped by Javed over and over for many months. In return, she took money from him,” the victim claimed in the First Information Report (FIR) against her mother.

    She further said that her mother had released a fake video of sexual assault on social media and filed a rape case against a man named Raza Bugti. “My mother had gotten into an argument with Bugti and forced me to support the allegations against him.”

    When the victim refused, her mother allegedly beat her up and threatened to make the same rape allegations against her brother, Kabeer.

  • Organised groups controlling social media in Pakistan: report

    Organised groups controlling social media in Pakistan: report

    A hashtag calling for the arrest of journalists briefly became the top Twitter trend in Pakistan on Thursday, deepening concern over a shrinking space for dissent in the country.

    The hashtag #ArrestAntiPakjournalists had dropped to second place by evening, but not before it had been used or forwarded more than 28,000 times.

    Many users accompanied it with a composite photograph of prominent journalists and TV anchors, some of whom regularly criticise the ruling Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) of Prime Minister Imran Khan and the powerful military establishment.

    “These are the people who are responsible for chaos, anarchy, manipulation. They are the real enemy of the states,” said one tweet.

    “Hang them all #ArrestAntiPakJournalists,” said another.

    Last year, the Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) said in a report that the military has “quietly, but effectively, set restrictions on reporting”, although it denies doing so.

    Shahzad Ahmed, of digital rights group Bytes for All, said the hashtag appeared to have been “planted” by pro-PTI accounts and was not “genuine public opinion”.

    “There are organised groups who start such trends… which is a very dangerous phenomenon in our country, regarding freedom of expression and personal freedom,” he told AFP.

    “Responsible use of social media is now becoming impossible in our country. Now we use social media, only to abuse others and to promote fake news and to disrespect each other, which is completely wrong.”

    An image of Hamid Mir, one of Pakistan’s most high-profile TV anchors, was prominent among the photographs of journalists being shared.

    Mir made international headlines in 2014 after surviving multiple gunshot wounds in an attack he blamed on Pakistan’s top spy organisation.

    Two days ago he launched a Twitter tirade against increasing censorship after his interview with former president Asif Ali Zardari, now an opposition leader, was abruptly taken off the air shortly after it began.

    “We are not living in a free country,” he wrote.

  • 41% people happy over Zardari’s arrest, 31% unaffected: survey

    A recent survey has revealed that 41% of Pakistanis are happy over the arrest of former president Asif Ali Zardari, while the development has left 31% people unaffected.

    As per the details, the Gilani Research Foundation survey, based on a sample size of 1,386 men and women, was conducted in both urban and rural areas of all four provinces of the country from June 15-24.

    Among other answers, just 22% Pakistanis said they were upset, 2% remarked that they did not hear about the matter and 4% commented that they were either not aware or did not wish to respond.

    Former president Zardari was arrested on June 10 by the National Accountability Bureau (NAB) officials and is accused of plotting to “misappropriate and launder” money out of the country through fake bank accounts.

    Other allegations against the Pakistan People’s Party (PPP) co-chairman include his use of Omni Group “front men” as associates in crime and receiving millions in cash.

  • PTI MPA seeks ‘corrective surgery and appropriate measures’ for transgender kids

    PTI MPA seeks ‘corrective surgery and appropriate measures’ for transgender kids

    Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) MPA Shahina Karim on Wednesday submitted in the Punjab Assembly a resolution to safeguard the rights of transgender children, ARY News reported.

    “Most of the times during childbirth, the kid is not transgender, but is presumed so,” the resolution read.

    “Such a child can be assigned gender after corrective surgery and appropriate measures so that they too can spend life like a man or a woman,” the resolution stated further.

    The move comes amid rising numbers of transgender persons’ killings across the country. Just last week, a 19-year-old transgender woman was found “riddled with bullets” beside a river bank.

    The teenager’s father and uncle were arrested for her murder.

  • Pakistan beats Israel in global military strength rankings

    Pakistan has beaten Israel in the Global Firepower (GFP) Military Strength Index 2019, according to data released by the group on its official website.

    The list by GFP relies on more than 50 factors to assign the 137 countries included in the survey an individual Power Index (PI) score, based upon their conventional war-making capability across land, sea and air.

    According to the 2019 GFP Index, Pakistan’s armed forces have been ranked the 15th most powerful in the world, beating Israel and other countries, including oil-rich Saudi Arabia.

    The ranking also includes factors concerning the respective states’ economic muscle and geographical characteristics. The report details Pakistan’s present military strength at 654,000 army personnel, 786 jet aircraft and 2,200 operational tanks.

    In addition, Pakistan’s naval capacity stands at a total of 197 vessels.

    Israel’s armed forces, on the other hand, have been ranked 17th, with a total of 170,000 military personnel, 506 warplanes and 2,760 tanks. Its naval strength stands at 65 assets.

    The ranking comes amid a flare in tensions between Pakistan and Israel, owing to alleged Israeli involvement in the failed February 26 airstrikes by India in Balakot.

  • 1992 and 2019? It’s not just Pakistan’s performance that’s similar…

    1992 and 2019? It’s not just Pakistan’s performance that’s similar…

    The world is coming down, the flags are up and the similarities between the 1992 and 2019 cricket world cups are uncanny.

    Back in the 1992 edition, Pakistan were hanging loosely off the edge, having their World Cup journey on the verge of conclusion before striking back; which is something that can be witnessed in 2019 as well.

    Good thing for Pakistan? The Imran Khan-led 1992 squad lifted the coveted trophy 27 years ago.

    While not just fans and critics, but even the International Cricket Council (ICC), observe the eerie similarities between the two tournaments, here’s a list of players from our current squad and their counterparts from the ’92 cup.

    Mohammad Amir and Wasim Akram

    Like Akram in 1992, Amir is carrying Pakistan’s bowling attack forward in 2019.

    Babar Azam and Javed Miandad

    Like Miandad, Babar has stepped up to perform brilliantly and rack up runs for his side.

    Shaheen Afridi and Aaqib Javed

    Like Aaqib was a second fiddle to Wasim, Shaheen is undoubtedly that to Mohammad Amir.

    Haris Sohail and Inzamamul Haq

    Inzamam played some brilliant innings in ’92; quite similar to Haris’s against South Africa and New Zealand.

    Shadab Khan and Mushtaq Ahmed

    Mushtaq had a huge impact 27 years ago, while Shadab has one for Pakistan in 2019.

    Hassan Ali and Iqbal Sikandar

    Hassan is rather non-existent in the World Cup so far; and just like Sikandar, not many people might even remember if he even played or not.

    Shoaib Malik and Saleem Malik

    Saleem was horribly out of form in 1992 and did nothing for his side; Shoaib hasn’t done anything so far either.

    Imad Wasim and Ijaz Ahmed

    Just like Ijaz, Imad is an “all-rounder” who is playing in the team for the sake of his label. Does knowing a little bit about both batting and bowling really make you an all-rounder? (Ijaz quit bowling in the later days of his career)

    Imamul Haq and Ramiz Raja

    The thing both Imam and Ramiz have in common is the strike rate. Imam in 2019 bats at the same strike rate as Ramiz did in 1992.

    Sarfaraz Ahmed and Moin Khan

    Both Sarfaraz and Moin, other than being wicketkeeper-batsmen, have a role crucial for the entire team. In Shoaib Akhtar’s words, “Moin didn’t, while Sarfaraz doesn’t perform up to the mark”.

    Imran Khan

    Last, but undoubtedly not the least is Imran Khan – the dashing skipper who steered his ‘Cornered Tigers’ to victory in the 1992 World Cup. In all honesty, Khan has no match on the cricket field; however, he still is the captain.

  • Making us proud: Meet Major Fozia Parveen, serving UN Peacekeeping Force

    Making us proud: Meet Major Fozia Parveen, serving UN Peacekeeping Force

    Among many other Pakistani female military and staff officers is Major Fozia Parveen, who is making the country proud by serving the United Nations’ (UN) Peacekeeping Force.

    Taking to social media, Pakistan’s Representative to the UN, Maleeha Lodhi, lauded Major Fozia’s services as a UN peacekeeper in Cyprus.

    “We are proud of our female (and male) peacekeepers who serve in UN missions. Major Fozia Perveen is serving in the UN Mission in Cyprus (UNFICYP), seen here on a patrol in the Buffer Zone. Picture thanks to the UN, [sic]” she said in an Instagram post.

    https://www.instagram.com/p/BzMeC8_h_mI/?utm_source=ig_web_copy_link

    Pakistan earlier crossed the target set by the UN from zero to 15 per cent deployment of female military and staff officers in the peacekeeping mission within just 18 months.

    “We believe, increased participation of female peacekeepers, and encouraging more women to take up mediation roles helps in the stabilisation and reconstruction phases of conflicts,” Lodhi had said earlier in April while participating in a debate on ‘Women in Peacekeeping.’

    Maleeh Lodhi herself is the first woman to hold the position of Pakistan’s representative to the UN. Previously, she has served as the country’s envoy to the Court of St James and twice as its ambassador to the United States (US).