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Tag: UK

  • Pakistani citizen goes missing in Jeddah

    Pakistani citizen goes missing in Jeddah

    Pakistani citizen and UK resident Syed Hussain Ali has gone missing in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia, on August 28 while on a transit visa in the Kingdom.

    Ali’s father Syed Asim Ali told The Friday Times that he wrote a letter to the Saudi Ambassador to Pakistan and requested caretaker Prime Minister Anwaar ul Haq Kakar to probe into his son’s disappearance.

    Hussain departed from Lahore on Monday 28 August at 11:40am on Saudi Airlines SV735. He landed in Jeddah at 14:50 pm, local time.

    Hussain had an eighteen hour transit and obtained a visa at the airport to perform Umrah.

    He messaged via WhatsApp using the Wi-Fi of a restaurant and then travelled to Mecca to perform Umrah. He then talked to his parents via Messenger video call from McDonald’s restaurant opposite Haram. This, according to the father, was his last communication, between 12:30-1:00 am.

    Hussain wanted to spend a couple of more hours in the Holy Mosque before his flight from Jeddah to London which was scheduled for 9:05 am.

    According to the father, Hussain was only carrying his laptop, phone, wallet and a change of clothing in his laptop bag.
    “He had only $100 on him and the rest of the expenditures he would pay using his debit and credit card,” Asim said.
    Hussain never boarded his flight to London.

    Asim noted that “Normally he is very communicative. It is very unlike him to not be in touch especially when he may know that we are waiting to hear from him,”

    In the letter to the officials, Asim requested to file a missing persons report.

    However, Properganda has commented under the Instagram news of the disappearance that Hussain has been found. That comment, however, is no longer posted.

  • Sister donates womb in UK’s first successful transplant

    Sister donates womb in UK’s first successful transplant

    Surgeons at Oxford have successfully carried out the first womb transplant in the UK.

    The womb was donated by a 40-year-old woman to her 34-year-old sister who was born without a uterus. The donor already had two children and considers her family to be complete. The sisters live in England and have requested to remain anonymous.

    The recipient was born with a rare condition known as Type 1 Mayer-Rokitansky-Küster-Hauser (MRKH) in which the uterus is “absent or underdeveloped, but has functioning ovaries”.

    The procedures were carried out by a team of 20 doctors which lasted around 17 hours in operating theatres at the Churchill hospital in February.

    It has been six months since the transplant and according to the doctors, both the women have “recovered well from surgery”. The recipient has embryos in storage that will be transferred.

    BBC reported that transplant surgeon Isabel Quiroga, who steered the team implanting the womb, said that the recipient was “absolutely over the moon, very happy, and is hoping that she can go on to have not one but two babies. Her womb is functioning perfectly and we are monitoring her progress very closely.”

    Prof Richard Smith, gynaecological surgeon, who led the organ retrieval team, has spent 25 years researching womb transplantation. He told the BBC it was a “massive success”.
    “The whole thing was emotional. I think we were all a bit tearful afterwards.”

    The donor is currently on immunosuppressive drugs in order to prevent tissue rejection however, the uterus will be removed after a maximum of two pregnancies due to long-term health risks.

    The first womb transplant surgery took place in Sweden in 2014 and the recipient successfully had a baby. She had received a womb from a friend in her 60s.
    Since then, 100 womb transplants have been carried out across the globe and around 50 babies have been born — mainly in the US and Sweden, but also in Turkey, India, Brazil, China, Czech Republic, Germany and France.

    According to British Journal of Obstetrics and Gynaecology, the surgeons in the UK were given permission to perform womb transplants in 2015, but “institutional delays” and Covid deferred it till now.

  • TW: UK police launch hunt for Pakistani father after daughter found dead in Surrey home

    TW: UK police launch hunt for Pakistani father after daughter found dead in Surrey home

    Sara Sharif, a 10-year-old girl, has been found dead in her home in Surrey with multiple injuries inflicted over her body. Her father, along with the child’s step mother and their five children, have seemingly left for Pakistan.

    According to the Surrey police, Urfan Sharif and his partner Beinash Batool, along with five children, left for Pakistan on Wednesday 9 August. The next day, Sara’s body was discovered in their home in Woking. Sharif made a call to the police station, after which officials arrived to discover the dead body.

    Sara’s body has multiple injuries, inflicted over a period of time, police have said.

    In a press release to the media, Detective Mark Chapman said the Surrey Police was working with the Crown Prosecution Service (CPS), Interpol, National Crime Agency, Foreign, Commonwealth, and Development Office to ensure that the culprits are caught and brought to swift action.

    “Firstly, on behalf of Surrey Police, I would like to express my heartfelt condolences following Sara’s tragic death,” Chapman said. “Our thoughts are with her mother at this difficult time. We also fully appreciate the impact this devastating incident will have had within the local community,” he stated.

    “While the postmortem has not provided us with an established cause of death at this time, the fact that we now know that Sara had suffered multiple and extensive injuries over a sustained and extended period has significantly changed the nature of our investigation, and we have widened the timescale of the focus of our inquiry.

    “As a result, we are trying to piece together a picture of Sara’s lifestyle but we cannot do this without the public’s help. That is why we are appealing for anyone who knew Sara, had any form of contact with her, or has any other information about her, no matter how insignificant it might seem, to come forward as soon as possible.”

  • Case against UK-based PTI activist Shayan Ali filed under anti-terror law in Islamabad

    Case against UK-based PTI activist Shayan Ali filed under anti-terror law in Islamabad

    A case has been filed under anti-terror laws against Shayan Ali – a UK-based based activist of the the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI)- at Ramna Police Station in Islamabad.


    According to the First Information Report (FIR), Shayan Ali made videos of a judicial officer Humayun Dilawar and harassed him in London.
    “An attempt was made to attack a judicial officer, he was saved by a security official,” the FIR adds.
    According to the copy of FIR received by Geo News, the SHO of the Ramna Police Station Nasir Iqbal filed the FIR due to the several videos of Shayyan threatening a judicial officer.


    “In one video which went viral on social media, Shayan said that he would make the life of the judicial officer hell who was come to a training at an educational institution in the United Kingdom,” the FIR stated.


    The report asserted that Shayan had also called on other Pakistanis to join him in “making the official’s life hell”.
    Moreover, Adil Farooq Raja, another prominent PTI social media activist, joined the activities online by making these videos aiding and abetting the “terrorist activators”, the FIR claimed.

  • TikToker Mahek Bukhari and mother Ansreen found guilty in murder case

    TikToker Mahek Bukhari and mother Ansreen found guilty in murder case

    British-Pakistani TikTok influencer Mahek Bukhari and her mother Ansreen have been declared guilty at a Leicister court for the murder of a man who died in a car crash.

    The deceased, Saqib Hussain, had threatened to expose details of the long-running affair he had been having with Ansreen.

    During the trial, the jurors were told that the social media influencer had set a trap for Hussain on the night he died, inviting him to their house, where they were going to give him the £3,000 he had spent during the relationship. When Hussain was driving to the house with his friend Hasim Ijazzuddin, they were ambushed and then chased by two cars.

    The men driving those vehicles were Karwan, 29, and Jamal, 23. Both were cleared of murder charges but were convicted of manslaughter.

    Ijazuddin’s car split into two pieces and caught on fire after colliding with a tree on Six Hills junction on the A46.

    After the verdicts, Deputy Inspector Mark Parish of Leicestershire Police spoke to the press, calling this a “callous and cold blooded attack.”

    “After setting Mr Hussain and Mr Ijazuddin up, chasing them at high speed and then ultimately ramming their car off the road, none of the defendants made any attempt to help the victims or to call for help.”

    “Instead, they drove on and then even drove back past the collision site.”

  • UK introduces new trade plan, offering duty-free access to 94% Pakistani products

    UK introduces new trade plan, offering duty-free access to 94% Pakistani products

    The United Kingdom has taken a momentous step in strengthening commercial ties with 64 nations, including Pakistan, by launching a new trading plan that offers duty-free access to goods.

    This move is expected to have a significant impact on Pakistani exports, allowing a staggering 94 per cent of goods to enter the British market without any duties, resulting in substantial savings of £120 million for the country.

    With the replacement of the Generalised System of Preferences (GSP), the UK’s new trade system opens up new avenues for trade and promises further tariff reductions for an additional 156 items.

    The implementation of the new trade system marks a significant development for Pakistani exports to the United Kingdom. By providing duty-free access to a vast majority of Pakistani goods, the UK aims to foster a mutually beneficial trade relationship. This move is expected to boost the trading possibilities between the two nations and facilitate an expansion of bilateral trade.

    According to the British High Commission, the current annual trade volume between Pakistan and the UK stands at £4.4 billion, and these figures are expected to rise in the future.

    The new trading plan aims to extend opportunities for free and fair trade to 65 nations, including Pakistan. By facilitating necessary changes and improvements, the UK seeks to enhance the quality of trade and enable these countries to actively participate in the global trading system. The British Trade Centre will play a crucial role in supporting and assisting these nations in their trade endeavors.

    Notably, this new plan also benefits 26 Asian nations and 37 African nations, collectively amounting to an export volume of £21 billion to the UK.

    The new trade system also promises further tariff reductions and increased trading possibilities for participating nations. With this plan in place, the UK aims to promote free and fair trade, strengthen global trading systems, and foster economic growth for all involved parties.

  • First baby born in UK with DNA from three parents to combat incurable mitochondrial diseases

    First baby born in UK with DNA from three parents to combat incurable mitochondrial diseases

    The fertility regulator in the United Kingdom (UK) has confirmed the birth of a baby using the DNA of three individuals for the first time. The majority of the baby’s genetic material comes from its two parents, with around 0.1 per cent coming from a donor woman.

    This innovative technique is designed to prevent the birth of babies with mitochondrial diseases, which can be fatal within days or hours of birth and are incurable. Less than five babies have been born using this method, and no further information about them has been released.

    Mitochondrial diseases are caused by defective mitochondria, which fail to generate energy and can lead to serious health problems, including brain damage, heart failure, and blindness. Mitochondria are inherited only from the mother, so this technique involves using healthy mitochondria from a donor egg to replace the affected mitochondria in the mother’s egg.

    Mitochondrial donation treatment is a modified form of IVF, and there are two techniques for performing it. This method was pioneered in Newcastle, and laws were introduced to allow the creation of such babies in the UK in 2015. However, the first baby born using this technique was in the US to a Jordanian family in 2016.

    The technique has been described as a permanent change that would be passed down through generations, but it only affects mitochondrial DNA and not other traits such as appearance, nor does it constitute a “third parent”. There is a risk of “reversion,” where any remaining defective mitochondria could still result in disease.

    The Human Fertilisation and Embryology Authority (HFEA) has confirmed the birth of fewer than five babies using mitochondrial donation treatment, but it has not provided any precise numbers to protect the families’ identities. This news is seen as a significant step in the cautious process of assessing and refining mitochondrial donation.

    More information is needed to determine the success of this technique, and whether the babies are free of mitochondrial disease and at risk of developing health issues later in life.

  • Former UK PM Liz Truss refuses to pay £12,000 back to govt for bathrobes, wine, slippers

    Former UK PM Liz Truss refuses to pay £12,000 back to govt for bathrobes, wine, slippers


    Liz Truss, the United Kingdom’s shortest-serving prime minister, has declined to reimburse the British government for a sum of £12,000 ($15,000) for her stay at Chevening House while she was Foreign Secretary.

    The bill mostly covered hospitality expenditure but also included missing items, such as bathrobes and slippers.

    According to a Daily Mail source, officials have informed Liz Truss that she must cover the expenses for items that went missing during her stat at the Chevening estate, which also includes food and wine charges.

    A spokesman for Ms Truss said: “Liz always paid for the costs of her personal guests at Chevening.”

    The latest invoice contains a mixture of costs for her personal business and costs for official government business with civil servants including [Cabinet Secretary] Simon Case and senior officials from other departments who met at Chevening during the transition preparations.”

    “The latter constitutes the majority of the bill. It would be inappropriate for her to pay the costs for officials as it would have breached the Civil Service Code for civil servants to accept hospitality during the leadership campaign. She has therefore asked for this to be billed separately.”

    Liz Truss’s tenure as prime minister of the United Kingdom began on 6 September 2022 when she accepted an invitation from Queen Elizabeth II to form a government, succeeding Boris Johnson, and ended 49 days later on 25 October upon her resignation.


  • UK Court rules that Murtaza Ali Shah was ‘defamed’ through a campaign by PTI leaders

    UK Court rules that Murtaza Ali Shah was ‘defamed’ through a campaign by PTI leaders

    A United Kingdom (UK) High Court Judge has ruled that the words used by three Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) leaders against London-based journalist Murtaza Ali Shah are “defamatory” at common law and that he was defamed through a campaign.

    Murtaza had himself moved the court against PTI leaders Mohammad Imran, Shanaz Hussain (typically known as Shanaz Saddique) and Riaz Hussain after they launched a defamatory social media campaign against him in 2020. Shah’s reporting on Justice Qazi Faez Isa of the Supreme Court after the Assets Recovery Unit paid a spy agency to investigate Justice Isa’s children led to the defamatory campaign against the journalist.

    The former ruling party has distanced itself from the matter. A spokesman of PTI UK said the three were clearly told by PTI leadership that their campaign against the reporter is personal.

    It is pertinent to mention here that one of the PTI leaders—Shanaz Hussain— was found guilty of forging her husband’s signature in 2012.

    In March 2023, at a preliminary trial on the meaning of the defamatory words used by these leaders, a judge said that “these are serious allegations to make against a professional journalist”.

  • UK organisations want Home Secretary to apologise for racist, Islamophobic allegations against British Pakistanis

    A group of healthcare professionals have demanded that England’s Home Secretary Suella Braverman issue an apology to British Pakistanis for levelling baseless accusations of racism, Islamophobia and other falsehoods against them, endangering their safety in the UK, Murtaza Ali Shah has reported for Geo.

    Several healthcare organizations, comprising a significant number of healthcare professionals from diverse backgrounds, have appealed to Prime Minister Rishi Sunak to acknowledge the unfounded and discriminatory accusations made by the Home Secretary, connecting Pakistanis to sexual grooming gangs, despite contradicting evidence from the government.

    During an interview with Sky News last week, Braverman claimed that British Pakistani men were involved in child abuse rings or networks that specifically targeted vulnerable white English girls.

    “(We see) a practice whereby vulnerable white English girls – sometimes in care, sometimes in challenging circumstances – being pursued, raped, drugged, and harmed by gangs of British Pakistani men, who work in child abuse rings or networks,” Braverman said while speaking to the news channel.

    These professionals have cited a Home Office-commissioned report from 2020, which stated that “research has shown that white individuals are the most common perpetrators of group-based child sexual exploitation,” and that it could not be determined that any specific ethnic group was significantly overrepresented.

    The letter further states, “We demand an apology from the Home Secretary and an honest commitment to meaningfully tackling this vital issue which has ruined the lives of thousands of young people. We must also remind the Home Secretary that words have consequences; in 2014, Boris Johnson’s comments on women in niqabs resembling letterboxes directly resulted in a 375% increase in hate crimes targeting Muslim women.”

    “Language that empowers racist hate crime has no place in modern British society. We urge the Home Secretary to reflect on her grossly irresponsible framing of this complex and serious issue and commit to working with members from all communities to address the urgent issue of CSE together. A retraction of her statement and apology is sought.”

    Earlier, Pakistan’s foreign office also criticised Suella Braverman for “discriminatory and xenophobic” comments.