After his austere United States (US) trip from earlier this year, Prime Minister (PM) Imran Khan is all set for another one of the same kind as merely $162,000 (Rs25 million) from taxpayers’ money will be spent, The Express Tribune reported.
The premier will reach Washington on September 21, where he will not only hold meetings with US President Donald Trump among other top government officials, but also address the United Nations General Assembly (UNGA) session.
It is also believed that PM Imran will once again take a commercial flight instead of opting to charter a plane in a bid to save money as the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) government continues to attempt to reduce the burden on the national exchequer.
Previously, the premier’s visit to the US had cost the treasury around $67,180 (Rs11 million). Around Rs1.35 million were spent on accommodation for PM’s 27-member delegation, while the PM chose to stay at Pakistan Embassy instead of some lavish hotel.
According to the details of the expenditures, an amount of Rs92,120 were incurred on transport, Rs142,000 on gifts, Rs6,075,800 on airfare, miscellaneous expenditures stood at Rs1,287,460, tips at Rs706,001 and meals at Rs1,389,077.
Punjab Chief Minister (CM) Usman Buzdar-led provincial government’s Metro Bus fare policy has backfired as both Lahore and Rawalpindi-Islamabad metro buses have faced a drastic decrease in the number of passengers.
According to The News, after the Punjab Metro Bus Authority increased the bus fare from Rs20 to Rs30, the number of commuters on Lahore Metro Bus has decreased by up to 20,000 per day while around 10,000 to 20,000 passengers have stopped commuting via the Rawalpindi-Islamabad Metro Bus.
“We were expecting an annual increase of Rs800 million in the revenue of Punjab Mass Transit Authority (PMTA) by increasing the fare. However, it is quite surprising that the number of passengers has decreased up to 20,000 in Lahore and 10,000 to 20,000 in Rawalpindi-Islamabad on a daily basis,” reports quoted an official as saying.
It is very strange for us to know that passengers are so sensitive about the fare, the official said further. “The PMTA management is preparing the report on this unexpected outcome which will be presented to the authorities concerned in a week or two.”
A man has appealed to the Capital City Police Officer (CCPO), complaining that he was arrested on trumped-up charges of possessing 60 litres of local liquor, Pakistan Today reported.
According to reports, Muhammad Javed, a resident of Okara district, stated that Lahore’s Defence-A police confiscated from him alcohol worth Rs455,000, including five bottles of Grand Fish, five bottles of Royal Flavored and 13 bottles of Gold Label.
“Defence-A police snatched away 23 branded bottles from my car when I was driving to DD Block of Defence Phase IV,” said the appellant.
“I was taken into custody and a false case of 60-litre local liquor was lodged against me,” he said. In addition, he said that he also had to pay Rs32,500.
Javed inquired as to what became of the alcohol which was recovered from his possession since it would not show up in police records.
On Sept 1, 2019, Defence-A Police Station lodged an FIR against Muhammad Javed and charged him under The Prohibition (Enforcement of Hadd) Order, 1979-3 and The Prohibition (Enforcement of Hadd) Order 1979-4 for possession of “local liquor” on Sept 1, 2019.
According to the FIR, an informant had told the police that Javed was carrying two barrels of local liquor and waiting for customers near Al-Fatah store in DD block, phase 4, DHA. As per the FIR, the police arrested Javed, recovered 60 litres of liquor and also impounded his vehicle.
Defence-A Police SHO Rana Akhtar Ali denied allegations made against his department, saying that Javed is, in fact, a bootlegger and the FIR was registered on the basis of what was found from the spot.
“60-litre liquor was recovered from the accused, who is apparently operating on someone else’s directions. We are investigating the matter and soon the real culprit(s) will also be arrested,” the SHO said.
He further added, “He may go to anyone he wants but we stand with our stance and have solid proof.”
We all struggle with saving money. And considering Pakistan’s volatile economic situation, it is imperative for us to save money for a more secure and stable future.
Compiled from CNBC, here are seven tips you can apply in your everyday life to save money.
Keep your expenses very, very low
Keep your expenses low by avoiding spending on things you don’t need. Think twice before you buy anything – from food to clothes – and ask yourself if you really need it. Frugal living is the way to go.
Pack lunch for work
We often end up spending a lot of money by eating out or ordering food for lunch every day during the workweek. This puts a big dent on your pocket. Plan your meals ahead and take lunch from home. You’ll be surprised to see the money you’ve saved at the end of the month and how much healthier it is.
Don’t go out every night
Going out has become an important part of our days, and weekends and it tends to be very heavy on the pocket. Instead of going out, plan one-dish get-togethers at homes. The point is to spend time with each other.
Cut down on groceries
Before you head to the grocery store, make sure you have a full stomach and a prepared list of items you want to buy. That way, you won’t get sidetracked by things you don’t need or food cravings that pop up while you’re there. Also, buy things in bulk – you’ll save a few rupees.
Save 40% to 50% of your earnings
Growing your money isn’t just about keeping expenses low, it’s also about making a plan to save what you have leftover. Put your savings in a savings account or invest them somewhere so you are not tempted to use them.
Start a side job
Opportunities are endless and if you have a skill or some extra time on your hands, utilise it to start a small side business which can contribute to your income.
Don’t get caught up in comparison
This is probably the most important tip of them all. A lot of the time, people end up spending money they don’t have on something they don’t need — usually because someone else has it or expects them to have it.
Everyone wants to flaunt around their wealth but you should never feel the need to spend money to impress anyone. If you do, you may find yourself competing way past what your budget allows.
Prime Minister Imran Khan and affluent religious scholar Maulana Tariq Jamil have been ranked among the top 50 most influential Muslims in the world.
The Royal Islamic Strategic Studies Centre in Jordan, in its annual publication of the World’s 500 Most Influential Muslims in 2019, ranked PM Khan at number 29 and Maulana sahab at number 40.
Other Pakistanis which feature on the list include Nobel Laureate Malala Yousafzai, CEO Ary Network Salman Iqbal, Muniba Mazari, Abida Parveen, Dr Abdul Qadeer Khan and Dr Umar Saif. Former PM Nawaz Sharif and Maulana Fazal ur Rahman have also made it to the list of top 500 influential Muslims.
Writing about PM Khan’s challenges, the publication said his “crackdown on corruption and bringing accountability to the forefront has fast made him a global name. He has already implemented cutbacks in extravagant government expenditure and is using his personal credibility to fundraise for a dam.”
The publication also gave a brief overview of his political journey, his cricketing days and about his philanthropic ventures including Shaukat Khanum Memorial Cancer Hospital and Research Centre and NUML University.
“A Sporting Legend: Imran Khan played professional cricket for 22 years and is recognised as one of the game’s finest all-rounders. His ability to lead and unite an often disparate team, culminated in Pakistan winning the 1992 World Cup. It is this ability and success that many hope can be replicated in the political field,” read the publication.
About Maulana Tariq Jamil, the publication said, “Maulana Tariq has delivered thousands of lectures around the world. He has been very effective in influencing all types of the community ranging from businessmen and landlords to ministers, actors and sports celebrities.”
Meanwhile, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan topped the list followed by Saudi King Salman bin Abdul-Aziz Al-Saud (2), King of Jordan Abdullah II ibn Al-Hussein (3), Supreme Leader of Iran Ali Khamenei (4) and King of Morocco His Majesty Amir al-Mu’minin (5).
Others on the list include Saudi Crown Prince Mohammad bin Salman, Malaysian Prime Minister Mahathir bin Mohamad, MP Sajid Javed and London Mayor Sadiq Khan, Egyptian footballer Mohammed Salah and Islamic scholar, Dr Zakir Naik.
Nobel laureate Malala Yousafzai, who had been receiving a lot of flak over not speaking up about Indian atrocities in Indian occupied Kashmir, in a series of tweets expressed her concern on the ongoing lockdown in the valley, shared accounts of Kashmiri girls in the area and appealed to world leaders to work towards instilling peace in the valley.
Lahore Crime Investigation Agency (CIA) officials recovered a minor boy kidnapped from a street of Ghaziabad and sold to a woman in Sheikhupura for Rs 20,000.
According to reports, a mother of seven daughters had asked her brother-in-law to kidnap a minor boy from Lahore and bring it over to her. The motive behind her action is not known.
The police said the kidnapper Amir and his accomplice kidnapped four-year-old Umair on September 9 when he was playing in a street in the city’s Ghaziabad area with his brother.
The parents of the boy alerted the police when Umair didn’t return home after a few hours.
The CIA police with the help of CCTV cameras of the Safe City Authority traced the suspects and recovered Umair from Sheikhupura. The Punjab Safe Cities Authority helped police detect the registration number of the motorcycle which the suspect used to transport Umair to Sheikhupura. CCTVs were also used to locate the kidnappers when they were taking the boy to Sheikhupura through Shahdara.
Police said the prime suspect Amir told police that he had committed the offence to please his sister-in-law.
The Pakistani Academy Selection Committee, chaired by two-time Academy Award winner Sharmeen Obaid-Chinoy, has selected crime thriller Laal Kabootar as Pakistan’s official entry to the Oscars.
The Oscar committee which includes Zeba Bakhtiar, Zarrar Khuhro, Sarmad Khoosat, Asim Abbasi, Rizwan Beyg and Sanam Saeed among others chose the film to be submitted for Oscar consideration in the ‘International Feature Film Award’ category for the 92nd Academy Awards.
Laal Kabootar features Ahmed Ali Akbar and Mansha Pasha in the lead roles. Ahmed plays a taxi-driver, looking for a way out of Karachi while Mansha plays Aliya, a strong-headed woman navigating through the city. The film was well-received both critically and commercially.
The film has been directed by Kamal Khan while Hania Chima and Kamil Chima were the executive producers.
The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences will choose the final nominees for all award categories including International Feature Film in December 2019. The complete and final list of Oscar nominees will be announced on 13th January 2020 with the presentation show for the 92nd Academy Awards scheduled to take place on 9th February 2020.
Speaking about the selection, producers Kamil and Hania said, “This is very exciting news. This is a moment of immense pride for the entire team, from the investors who put their faith in us, to the cast and crew that worked tirelessly to tell a daring story.”
Meanwhile, committee member Sarmad Khoosat was all praises for the film remarking, “Laal Kabootar is an authentic representation of the new wave cinema in Pakistan. Karachi’s raw and fierce beauty has never been shown like this on screen before.”
Daughter of Saudi Arabia’s King Salman and sister of Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman has been convicted for making her bodyguard beat and humiliate a local craftsman who was renovating her luxury apartment in Paris three years ago.
According to CNN, a French court handed Princess Hassa bint Salman Al Saud a 10-month suspended sentence and a fine of $11,000. She was sentenced in absentia and found guilty of armed violence and complicity to hold someone against their will. Meanwhile, Salman’s bodyguard was given an eight-month suspended prison sentence and directed to pay a fine of $5,600.
Ashraf Eid, an Egyptian-born French national, had alleged that the princess’s bodyguard attacked him after she accused him of taking photos and videos of her in September 2016. He alleged the guard hit him, tied up his wrists, put a gun to his head and ordered him to kiss the princess’s feet.
Eid previously said he was working in a bathroom in the apartment on Paris’ exclusive Avenue Foch and took photographs of the furniture “for reference” when he noticed the princess’s reflection in the mirror. He shared that when the princess saw him, she allegedly ordered her bodyguard to take his phone. Eid claimed that the bodyguard then manhandled him and kicked him in the face.
Eid further added that the princess insulted him, saying, “You’re all the same, bastards, dogs. You’ll see how you should speak to a princess, how one should speak to the royal family.”
He said that the bodyguard then put a gun to the back of his head and gave him two choices: “Kiss the princess’s feet or risk further assault.”
After he was released from the apartment, Eid registered a complaint with the police who questioned the princess for two hours before letting her go. Three days later, she left the country.
Hassa’s lawyer denied all the charges and said that the princess is “totally innocent of the allegations that have been made against her.” He added that they would file for an appeal.
Acclaimed writer and son of Indian journalist Tavleen Singh and former governor Salmaan Taseer, Aatish Taseer has written a controversial piece for Vanity Fair. From interviewing PM Khan’s former wife Reham Khan to singer Ali Zafar, Taseer is being severely criticised for writing a puff piece with quotes from an ex-wife and a singer accused of sexual harassment.
Aatish Taseer
The Current decided to sum up the major points from his article.
1. Pakistan’s first lady Bushra Bibi has two jinns
According to a journalist who has not been named, Bushra Bibi, known as “Pinky Peerni” has two jinns and when people seek her guidance, she asks them for “great vats of cooked meat,” that she “fed to the jinns she has kept at her disposal”.
Imran Khan and Bushra Bibi’s Nikkah – Feb ’18
2. Khan married Bushra Bibi because of a dream
When PM Khan sought guidance from Bushra Bibi, according to Taseer, she told him that she had had a dream and according to the dream, “it was imperative he be married to the right woman—i.e., a member of Maneka’s own family.”
Taseer then relates that Bushra “offered her sister to Khan,” as well as her daughter. PM Khan refused and “then Maneka went away to dream again…and the voice in her head told her that she, Bushra Maneka, a married woman and a mother of five, was the wife Imran Khan needed.”
According to the article, Bushra Bibi’s husband Khawar Maneka, “agreed to give her a divorce,” so she could marry Khan.
Imran Khan pictured in Bani Gala in 2012
3. “I have seen women from the age of just 6 to 60 going crazy over him”
Long-time friend Yousaf Salahuddin tells Taseer that Khan was a very wanted man in his younger days and girls as young as six years were crazy about him. This quote was inserted in a paragraph that describes Khan as a sex symbol.
4. Zulfi Bokhari refused to give Taseer an interview with Khan
Taseer said that he approached close aide and Special Assistant to the PM on Overseas Pakistanis, Zulfi Bokhari to set up an interview with PM Khan. But “when I spoke to Zulfi Bokhari, a frequenter of nightclubs from the London days… he sought assurances that my piece would be positive; otherwise, he told me, it would be his a** on the line. A few days later, Bokhari WhatsApped me: “Unfortunately the PM has said he can’t do it right now. Perhaps in the near future.”
5. Khan was envious of Benazir’s death
Taseer writes that when Benazir Bhutto died in 2007, Khan came to Pakistan a few days later “with a French girlfriend” and had been “photographed poolside in swimming trunks as his country was engulfed in trauma”.
Imran Khan sunbathing at Godrej bungalow at Juhu in Mumbai on 28 Dec. 2007
Taseer also mentions the time when he met Khan alone after BB’s death, Khan said that God had saved Benazir. Khan said that BB, in making a deal with General Musharraf had done, “the most immoral thing you could have done. So this thing has come as a blessing for her.” Taseer asked Khan what he meant by “this thing” and Khan replied, “Death,” as a matter-of-fact. Then, with what sounded almost like envy, he added, “Benazir has become a martyr. She has become immortal.”
6. Khan identified himself as a “liberal”
In a discussion with singer Ali Zafar, Khan said that he was “a liberal” and said about his “right-wing” tilt that, “you just can’t talk about those issues so openly, because you’re going to be penalized for it.”
Khan told Ali that “You know me…I’m a liberal; I’ve got friends in India; I’ve got friends who are atheists. But you’ve got to be careful here,” meaning Pakistan.
Social media had mixed reactions to Taseer’s account.
That Vanity Fair article was less about Imran Khan and more an excuse for Aatish Taseer to name-drop how many of the rich and privileged he knew.
Ppl outraging over this need to: a) read Vanity Fair to understand their brand of interviews/profiles — its not an academic journal, folks; and b) need to finally come out as 'Insafians' of the youth variety
Beautifully written but really, after being in the politics for over two decades, should we be concerned about Imran Khan’s past or worry about the future he has planned for this country? https://t.co/YgkMlX0JX3
