Karachi: Coronavirus continues its toll, took 85 lives in a single day, more than half of deaths were reported in Punjab. In the last 24 hours, more than 2,000 positive cases, 38,000 active cases in the country, 2,886 patients are being treated in hospitals.
According to the National Command and Operations Center, 85 more deaths have been reported in the last one day in Punjab, 48 in Sindh, 21 in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, and eight in Islamabad. In Islamabad, 52% and Islamabad, 39% of patients are on ventilators.
Yesterday, 39,435 tests were conducted out of which 2,152 new cases were reported.
Karachi: A group of lawyers led by the vice-president of the High Court Bar Association opposed the invitation of PML-N vice-president Maryam Nawaz to address the bar during her scheduled visit to Garhi Khuda Buksh Bhutto on December 27. And appeals to the Registrar of the Sindh High Court to cancel the invitation ‘to avoid complications’
According to the report, during a press conference at the local press club, HCBA Vice President Mazhar Ali Mangan and Senior Advocate Qadir Bakhsh Bhatti said that the General Secretary of the Bar, Ashfaq Abro, sent invitations to the General Body without taking them into confidence.
He said that the invitation of Maryam Nawaz to address the bar was against the rules and regulations so it should be withdrawn or canceled.
He rejected the Secretary-General’s claim that the invitation had the signatures of 400 lawyers, saying that many of the signatories were law students who are not even registered as members of the bar.
Showing a copy of the petition sent to the President of the Bar signed by the Vice President, Joint Secretary, Library Secretary, and members of the Managing Committee, he said that the message had been conveyed to the President that Maryam Nawaz was invited to address the bar. The sent-letter was against the law and should be withdrawn.
Advocate Qadir Bakhsh Bhatti in a letter dated December 23 to the Registrar of the Sindh High Court said that the signatures on the invitation had been ‘arranged’ and the matter had not been taken up with the bar members.
The General Secretary of the Bar Association had invited Maryam Nawaz in a letter on December 18 to address the bar as per Maryam’s convenience as she is likely to visit Garhi Khuda Buksh Bhutto on December 27 to attend the anniversary of PPP leader Benazir Bhutto.
Nisar Ahmed G. Abro, a member of the bar, had requested it.
General Secretary Ashfaq Abro said that he issued the invitation when the president of the bar sent a request to Nisar Abro.
He said that everything was done in accordance with the rules of the association and it was signed by 400 lawyers.
Once Maryam Nawaz accepts the invitation, the lawyer who transferred the application will inform the association, and only then will arrangements be made for her address.
“However, we have not received any response yet,” he added.
Karachi: Chief of Army Staff General Qamar Javed Bajwa on the occasion of Father of the Nation’s birthday said that no power on earth can destroy Pakistan.
According to a statement issued by the Pakistan Army Public Relations Department (ISPR), the Army Chief said that no power on earth could destroy Pakistan.
No power on earth can undo #Pakistan. “Nation celebrates #Quaid’s anniversary with great reverence and commitment upholding his message of hope, courage & confidence. Faith, Unity and Discipline shall always remain guiding principles of our great nation”, COAS
He said that the nation was celebrating Quaid-e-Azam’s birthday with devotion and respect and was embracing his message of hope, courage, and confidence.
The Army Chief said that faith, unity, and organization will always be the guiding principles of our great nation.
Earlier, President Dr Arif Alavi and Prime Minister Imran Khan paid rich tributes to Quaid-e-Azam Muhammad Ali Jinnah and appealed to the nation to follow in his footsteps in all walks of life.
Quaid-e-Azam Muhammad Ali Jinnah was the one who gave a great gift to the Muslims of the subcontinent in the form of an independent homeland, was born on December 25, 1876, in Karachi.
Karachi: The 145th birth anniversary of Father of the Nation Quaid-e-Azam Muhammad Ali Jinnah is being celebrated with devotion and respect across the country.
Quaid-e-Azam Muhammad Ali Jinnah, who gave a great gift to the Muslims of the subcontinent in the form of an independent homeland, was born on December 25, 1876, in Karachi.
The nation is celebrating his birthday with devotion and enthusiasm. In this regard, it is a public holiday across the country today while national flags are being hoisted on national and government buildings.
The day began with prayers for the security, development, and prosperity of the state of Pakistan and a grand ceremony of guards was held at Mazar-e-Quaid in Karachi where cadets of Pakistan Military Academy took over the duties of guards.
On the occasion, Commandant Military Academy Omar Ahmad Bukhari laid flowers at the shrine and expressed his views in the guest book.
On the 145th birth anniversary of the Father of Nation, various personalities of the country continued to visit Mazar-e-Quaid and offer Fateha.
Public and private level events were held on the occasion of Quaid-e-Azam, in which the principles of his political struggle; faith, unity and organization were highlighted.
The purpose of these events was to make the youth aware of the vision of Quaid-e-Azam and the ideology of Pakistan
"My message to you all is of hope, courage and confidence." – Quaid-e-Azam Muhammad Ali Jinnah
Prime Minister of Pakistan, Imran Khan, also took to Twitter to send his heartfelt message to the nation on Quaid’s birth anniversary, “My message to you all is of hope, courage and confidence,” he wrote.
The Governor and the Chief Minister of Sindh also paid a visit to Mazar-e-Quaid.
The two leaders arrived at the Quaid-e-Azam’s mausoleum and laid a wreath there and offered Fateha, after which they recorded their impressions in the guest book.
Ministry of Overseas Pakistanis & Human Resource Development, Syed Zulfiqar Bukhari also wrote on his Twitter account, “Few individuals significantly alter the course of history. Fewer still modify the map of the world.”
“Few individuals significantly alter the course of history. Fewer still modify the map of the world. Hardly anyone can be credited with creating a nation-state. Mohammad Ali Jinnah did all three” Stanley Wolpert, Jinnah of Pakistan
Karachi: State Bank of Pakistan (SBP) and Ministry of Planning, Development and Special initiatives (MPD&SI) has launched a survey of Overseas Pakistanis to analyze recent trends in remittances and the future outlook.
This Survey will be available to all overseas Pakistanis till 9th January 2021. They both encourage the Overseas Pakistanis to actively participate in this short online survey.
The Survey will cover the factors that may have affected recent remittances behavior, including switching from informal to formal channels, to move on to digital platforms, future plans of moving back to Pakistan.
Karachi: Coronavirus killed 111 more people in one day across the country, while more than 2,000 people have been diagnosed with the disease.
According to the data released by the National Command and Operations Center, 37,173 corona tests were conducted in the last 24 hours, the total number of tests has reached 6,428,240.
In the last 24 hours, 2,256 more positive cases have been reported across the country, bringing the number of confirmed cases of corona in Pakistan to 465,070.
According to official numbers, so far 27,407 in Sindh, 133,874 in Punjab, 56,160 in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, 36,721 in Islamabad, 18,005 in Balochistan, 8,065 in Azad Kashmir and 4,838 people in Gilgit-Baltistan have been diagnosed with COVID-19.
The number of active corona patients in the country has amounted to 38,268.
In the last 24 hours, 111 more people have died of Coronavirus across the country, the death toll from the epidemic has reached 9,668.
According to the NCOC, 1,782 COVID-patients have recovered in one day, while the total number of recovering patients is 417,134.
Karachi: Sindh High Court annuls notification of detention of the accused in Daniel Pearl murder case. The court has ordered the immediate release of four accused including Ahmed Omar Sheikh from jail
The Sindh High Court ordered that the names of all the accused, including Ahmed Omar Sheikh, be included in the ECL. The accused have been in jail for 18 years without any charges.
The court ordered the accused to appear when summoned by the court.
Earlier, the special anti-terrorism court had sentenced Ahmed Umar Sheikh to death, while the other three accused were sentenced to life imprisonment.
The Sindh government had challenged the High Court’s decision in the Supreme Court and the Supreme Court has rejected the provincial government’s plea, but the release of the accused Omar Sheikh was halted.
The Supreme Court later refused to extend its stay order.
Karachi: Israel is going to establish diplomatic relations with the fifth Muslim country under Donald Trump. But Pakistan is not included.
Israeli Regional Cooperation Minister Ofir Akunis said that the diplomatic relations with a fifth Muslim country could be announced before Trump leaves office on January 20.
He added that in this regard, the United States will announce that another country is going to establish public relations with Israel, mainly with the framework of a peace agreement.
However, he declined to name the country. Any such announcement could be made with Saudi Arabia or Oman, but he said the country with which talks are underway is a largely Muslim country and is located in the east.
He also clarified that Pakistan is not into consideration.
Recently, there were unconfirmed reports and rumors that a Pakistani delegation had visited Tel Aviv.
On the other hand, Pakistan is currently under pressure from Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates to start talks on establishing diplomatic relations with Israel.
Karachi: The Interior Minister Sheikh Rashid said that immigration officers have to be recalled and new officers have to be appointed. From now on, passports will be issued for ten years while from January 1, passport assistance will be extended to 10 years.
Federal Interior Minister Sheikh Rashid Ahmed on the occasion of his visit to the Passport Office said that he has set a target of 120 days and directed to recall all the officers within a month.
He said that a new e-passport system will be introduced and besides, passport SMS service is also going to be launched. This digital system will revolutionize the entire process of passport issuance as the passport holder will be informed through message before the end of passport assistance.
The ECL has instructed to reduce the blacklist, only those who are involved in anti-state activities should be blacklisted.
Sheikh Rashid Ahmed has assured that the sale and purchase of smuggled petrol will come to an end this week.
Talking about PDM, Sheikh Rasheed Ahmed said that there is no truth in Maulana Sahib’s talk of withdrawing security. Maulana Fazlur Rehman is just using PML-N as a tool.
“Maulana is the root of all riots” Rasheed exclaimed.
He said that PDM will participate in the Senate elections while “MQM is our ally”.
All I can say about the PPP is that the party is playing in a better position, but I can only ask Fazlur Rehman to have mercy on politics and the country.
Karachi: Stephen Sackur, the host of the BBC’s Hardtalk, said he enjoyed the “pretty intense” conversation with the former finance minister Ishaq Dar earlier this month, in which he was asked some exhausting questions, leaving him lost for words.
Dar was faced with heated questions from the host in which he tried to banish the impression that he was away from the law. The Sackur asked, “You are a wanted man in Pakistan, are you here in London to escape the judicial process.”.
To which the former finance minister replied by denying the statement that he has escaped from the judicial process, he also added that the political history of Pakistan where corruption rhetoric has been used repeatedly during dictatorships over the last 73 years and the current government is also said to be a judicial martial law.
Sackur also said in an interview that “I was delighted that Ishaq Dar wanted to be on the show.”
“We want to and we are making a very conscious effort to cover Pakistan more thoroughly in HARDtalk so when he said he was happy to come in and give us the interview, we were very delighted about that.” added the Hardtalk host.
The very famous HARDtalk host, Stephen Sackur is the show’s presenter for the best part of 15 years and he also praised the PML-N leader as well, saying he was “a very direct speaker”. He only wished to coax information out of the opponent for the benefit of Hardtalk’s viewers, he wants to elect information and enlighten his viewers and he thinks that this is the spirit in which he does the show, he also focused on the respect of the opponent as much as anything.”
He also stated that the PML-N leader Ishaq Dar himself wanted to come on the show.
Karachi: Presidential reference has been filed in the Supreme Court for open ballot instead of the secret ballot in Senate elections.
This Presidential reference states that past senate elections have not been held under the Constitution, while next year’s Senate elections may be held through an open ballot.
A Statement by the Press Information Department said that the president approved Prime Minister Imran Khan’s proposal to send a reference to the apex court under Article 186 of the Constitution.
The Proposal to seek the apex court’s opinion under
Article 186 of the Constitution was given by Attorney General Khalid Jawed Khan.
He also said that if section 122(6) of the Elections Act, 2017 was amended through an ordinance before the commencement of the election schedule by the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP), the elections would not be a secret ballot, it could be held through the open ballot.
It should be noted that the Presidential reference regarding the Senate election has been filed by President Arif Alvi in the Supreme Court on the suggestion of the Prime Minister.
The Reference also seeks to amend the clause on a secret ballot in the relevant law without amending the constitution. In this reference, it is stated that the Senate Election System will boost through open ballot election, however, after the secret ballot, many questions could be raised.
Karachi: A virus similar to the Coronavirus discovered in the UK has been revealed to have reached Karachi.
The Prime Minister’s Chairman, Corona Task Force Committee on Science and Technology, Dr. Ata-ur-Rehman, has stressed the need to develop vaccines at the local level to curb the growing cases of Coronavirus in the country.
In Karachi, we have also discovered a virus similar to the Coronavirus discovered in the UK, said Dr. Ata-ur-Rehman.
“Scientists around the world, especially in European countries, have observed a change in the new wave of coronavirus,” he said.
Speaking to a private TV channel, Ata-ur-Rehman revealed that more than 200 companies are currently working on vaccines to deal with the new virus.
Referring to the effectiveness of the vaccine, Dr. Ata-ur-Rehman said that it would take a long time for the vaccine to be authentic and to see its effects on the health of the people. Scientists at the university are examining the mutations of the virus.
Karachi: News of the death of Karima Baloch, a Balochistan-based political activist and former chairperson of the Baloch Students’ Organization, has left many mourning.
Social media is full of reactions on Karima Baloch’s death. The 37-year-old Baloch leader’s disappearance and then death in Toronto, Canada, led to the spread of misinformation and rumors.
Who is responsible for the death of Karima Baloch? A war of hashtags circulating on social media for the past two days.
The Toronto police is investigating the cause of death of Karima Baloch, however, no confirmed information has been released yet,
Nonetheless, some social media users blamed the state of Pakistan and some users blamed India’s intelligence agency RAW and #RAWKilledKarima went viral.
Some are using #StatekilledKarima on Twitter, but a lot of information was shared that wasn’t accurate.
Bollywood star, Kangana Ranaut accused Canadian PM, Justin Trudeau after Karima’s death news went viral.
Kangana Ranaut made some serious accusations against the Canadian Prime Minister, Justin Trudeau, as she holds him responsible for her death. She took to Twitter to say “What a shameful day …. @JustinTrudeau you are answerable for this.
Karachi: Israeli Regional Cooperation Minister, Ofir Akunis denies reports of Pakistan’s recognition of Israel while speaking to a TV channel.
After Pakistan falsified any claims of Israeli recognition, the regional cooperation minister in Israel also refuted the reports.
However, he shared that Tel Aviv is working on formalizing its bonds with a 5th Muslim country. Israel wants the recognition to take place during Trump’s presidentship, he added.
According to a foreign news agency, the Israeli Minister for Regional Cooperation said that this could be announced in January, but this does not include Pakistan.
Karachi: 20 years have been passed since Noor Jahan’s fans lost the legendary singer, who died on December 23, 2000, after a long ailment.
The queen of melody is no stranger to the world of singing who ruled over the hearts of many music lovers with her captivating and melodious voice in Pakistan and beyond.
The everlasting songs and lyrics by Noor Jahan still represent the emotions of the audience.
Madam Noor because of her heartwarming and captivating voice was given the title of ‘Malika–e–Tarannum’ (the queen of melody) and even after years of her departure, the world knows her by her honorific title.
Born on September 21, 1926, in Kasur, the Queen, at the age of four, became a student of Ghulam Muhammad who enhanced the God-gifted voice.
Her real name was Allah Wasai, who soon garnered so much popularity as an actress a playback singer and afterward was known as Noor Jahan.
The great singer rejuvenated the soldiers and the nation fighting on the border with her songs in the 1965 war.
The Government of Pakistan appreciated her contributions and awarded her with 15 Nigar Awards. She was also honoured with Pride of Performance in 1965, Tamgha-e-Imtiaz in 1965, and Sitara-e-Imtiaz in 1996
In the world of music, Noor Jahan’s career spanned more than six decades from the 1930s to the 1990s. The queen, the owner of a magical sound that can hardly be heard in the ears, could be in space. Queen Tarun Noor Jahan passed away on December 23, 2000, after a long illness.
Karachi: Toronto Police confirmed the death of a missing Baloch rights activist, Karima Baloch on Tuesday. She went missing on Sunday 19 December.
Due to the sudden death of Karima Baloch, a social worker and former chairperson of the Baloch Students’ Organization, in Toronto, Canada, the police after a preliminary investigation has said that the investigation into the circumstances under which the activist died has caused some confusion to the investigating officers.
On the other hand, human rights organizations and a large number of people around the world, including Pakistan, are paying tribute to her.
The Toronto Police Service is aware of the community and media interest in investigating a missing person, the Toronto Police Service wrote in a Twitter message. The situation has been investigated and officials have declared it a non-criminal death and no wrongdoing is suspected. The police has informed the deceased family.
It should be noted that Karima Baloch belonged to the Turbat district of Balochistan province of Pakistan and she had sought political asylum in Canada due to threats to her life. Since then, she has raised the issue of Balochistan at UN meetings in Canada and Switzerland.
Karachi: 84 more people succumbed to COVID-19 while 2,142 new positive cases have been reported across the country during the last 24 hours.
According to the National Command and Operations Center, the total number of deaths from the deadly virus in the country has reached 9,557 while the total number of infected people has reached 462,814.
In Pakistan, 415,352 Corona patients have recovered and 37,905 are undergoing treatment.
The highest number of deaths due to Corona was reported in Punjab where 3,732 people lost their lives while 3,379 corona-infected died in Sindh, 1,563 in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, 394 in Islamabad, 99 in Gilgit-Baltistan, 179 in Balochistan, and 211 people in Azad Kashmir.
Corona positive cases rate in Karachi is 13.01%, in Rawalpindi 5.74%, Azad Jammu and Kashmir 8.25%, in Balochistan 4.78%, in Gilgit-Baltistan 1.07%, and in Islamabad 3.5%.
Karachi: Chairman Pak Sarzamin Party (PSP) Mustafa Kamal has said that Imran Khan’s federal government has failed, the people of Karachi are enraged, MQM Ministers must resign from their positions.
Talking to the media outside the NAB court, Chairman PSP Mustafa Kamal burst out and said that MQM is an agent, a businessman, doing false politics in the name of ‘Mohajir‘ (immigrants).
He said that Karachi’s population of 30 million was underestimated in the census, MQM Pakistan only gave dissenting notes and the federal cabinet approved the census.
Mustafa Kamal said that Pak Sarzamin Party will not allow anyone to do the injustice to the metropolis of Pakistan and will shortly announce a plan of action.
Chairman PSP said that Pakistan has never been so disappointed, Pakistanis have no hope from the government or the opposition, PIA headquarters is being shifted to Islamabad.
He said that the federal cabinet has recognized the census of Karachi, 7 million people of Karachi have been underestimated.
“Chief Justice of Pakistan also remarked that the population of Karachi is 35 million, there are more people in the voters’ list and not in the population,” he remarked.
Chairman PSP said that NAB references were sent against Nawaz Sharif and Maulana Fazlur Rehman.
He further lamented and told the government, “we are deprived of water, appropriate sewerage system, transport, employment, and providing us gas and electricity at high prices.”
“There is no reference against former mayor Wasim Akhtar, he is roaming around even after committing billions of corruptions.”
Mustafa Kamal said that whoever is conspiring against this city is conspiring against the country, all are sucking the blood of the country, all are looters.
Karachi: Addressing a passing parade at the Police Line Headquarters in Islamabad, Prime Minister Imran Khan congratulated the young policemen who had passed and said that he has come to give a message to the Pakistani police that as long as one The life and property of a nation is not protected, the nation cannot lead to development.
The PM paid tribute to the police officials, saying that the army protects the lives and property of Pakistan on the borders and the ones who protect the inside of the country are policemen.
They protect investors, businessmen, and citizens.
He said that we should learn from the history of the world that reveals, no nation could prosper without rule of law and the security of the people.
He referred to the police saying that, “its importance is vital to the society but I have to say with regret that the police in our society does not have such place.”
“Since there has been a history behind it.”
Imran Khan promised that In sha Allah he will talk to Hafeez Sheikh to increase the pay-scale of Islamabad police.”
700Karachi: Good news for Pakistan’s emerging as well as proven talent on the launch, 21 Dec, of Rinstra platform as they can have their original content published and make a living out of this digital platform.
Rinstra is allowing national and international talent to have a life-changing chance to promote their skills on Pakistan’s first-ever digital forum.
The state-of-the-art technology platform with content including Romance, Satire, Thriller, Music, Cooking, and Candid Celebrity Talk Shows, written and directed by renowned industry names including Haseena Moin, Mehreen Jabbar, Shah Yasir, Imran Mehboob, Erum Binte Shahid, Farheen Chaudhary, Sohail Javed, Sadia Jabbar and many others featuring Pakistan’s proven and emerging talent.
RINSTRA Launch Ceremony
On the occasion, Dr. Adil Akhtar, Co-founder, and Chairman Rinstra Technologies said, “This is a milestone for Pakistan as it will give creative people a platform in the era of advanced technology”.
“Individuals with creative skill and idea will bring about a significant difference and diverse narratives” he added.
Talking to Daynews.tv, Akhtar further said, “our multi-faceted technology platform will provide opportunities to the current and upcoming talent in multifaceted forms”
Through the ultra-modern platform, people within Pakistan and beyond can earn a living for generating engaging original content, added the chairman and co-founder.
The Chief Executive Officer of RINSTRA Technologies, Amir Jahangir said, “RINSTRA will prove to be a milestone for the media industry in Pakistan and will be a pivot for the industry”.
Continuing, Jahangir said that “the content creators will start taking charge of their content by discovering, creating, showcasing, and monetizing.”
The Chief Creative Officer of RINSTRA, Misbah Ishak Khalid expressed her views, saying “I sincerely believe that creative people in Pakistan are marginalized, due to not being recognized as part of a vibrant industry in the country”.
She added, “RINSTRA will create an ecosystem, where the
creative people, especially our youth, will have opportunities to explore new content, new stories, and new ideas.”
Rinstra has partnered with multiple companies such as Google Clouds, Amazon AWS, Microsoft 365, Akamai, and Verizon Media.
Rinstra, a digital platform where you can showcase your talent
Pakistan more than 76.38 million Internet users,
which increased to 35% by January 2020. Meaning 37 million more users are joining social media. New users are connected to the framework every month. The penetration of social media pages for 17 per cent of
Pakistan’s digital industry has a large population consisting of 164.9 million.
while almost 800,000 additional smartphone connections are added to the system monthly.
Karachi: The Indian actress, who married Mohsin Akhtar Mir, a Mulsim entrepreneur in 2016, said she was being ridiculed for marrying someone outside her religion.
The Bollywood renowned actress divulged that she has been a victim of mockery for so long. People trolled her for marrying a Muslim man and even called him “a terrorist, a Pakistani”.
She went on to share her story and said that ‘trolls’ even sneaked into her Wikipedia page to change the actress’ religion, father’s name, and mother’s name too.
Urmila Matondkar and husband Mohsin Akhtar
She mentioned that she is not “thick-skinned” and doesn’t view sensitivity as a weakness but rather one of the strongest points of a woman.
A woman is a sensitive being who has empathy and compassion and that what “makes me a woman”. added her
She also said that she and her Husband follow their respective religion equally.
The actress narrated that her Instagram account was hacked by Shive Sena Leader that led her to register an FIR to the Cyber Cell of the Mumbai Police.
Shortly after the FIR was lodged, the actress’s account was recovered.
Karachi: Islamabad accountability court has indicted Ahsan Iqbal in the Narowal Sports City case.
Ahsan Iqbal along with four others accused is indicted. The former DG Pakistan Sports Board Akhtar Nawaz Ganjira is included.
The court, on Tuesday, has summoned the witnesses against Iqbal to the NAB on January 12.
Ahsan Iqbal was indicted in the Parnarwal Sports City case in the accountability court on Tuesday. Judge Asghar Ali of Accountability Court No. 3 heard the case.
The indictment alleges that the accused misused his powers as a minister for personal gain and maliciously expanded the scope of Sports City.
However, the accused have denied the charges against them.
Earlier, Ahsan Iqbal’s objections were raised that the court should have looked into whether it’s even the case or not.
The judge remarked, in response to the objections raised by Ahsan Iqbal, that he should file a petition and speak through his lawyer.
Outside the accountability court, PML-N Leader told the media that “not even a single line was there in the reference against me”.
