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A journalist. Also available on Threads & BSky
A little overwhelmed, but deeply grateful upon finding out that
@AliaChughtai
and I have won the Human Rights Press Awards 2024 for our story we did for
@AJEnglish
about the Pakistanis who died when their boat sank off the Greece coast in June 2023.
BBC Hindi correspondent in Srinagar reports that "access to valley is almost entirely blocked, media persons not allowed to take pictures." He also says he was made to delete photos in his phone and there's complete ban on means of communication.
Justice Faez Isa is a total rockstar.
During a hearing, Justice Gulzar penalises one party and fines them 50k PKR, ordering to submit the fine to Dam Fund.
Justice Faez Isa steps in and amends the decision, saying fine should be submitted to Edhi Foundation.
[v Geo ticker]
"We have been let down by the same nation we ceded to," she said, adding that it seemed as though the state had made the "wrong choice" in aligning with India rather than Pakistan during partition in 1947."
Mehbooba Mufti, Ex. CM J&K, to BBC
A most rewarding journey finally comes to its end.
After almost six years of association, I bid adieu to
@BBCUrdu
, to begin a new chapter of my career at the
@AJEnglish
, as their Digital Correspondent, Pakistan.
I just saw the
@MJibranNasir
corner meeting video where he was harassed by the morons who kept haranguing him to declare Ahmadis kafir.
I am in awe of this man, his courage in these dangerous times, and his ability to somehow withstand his ground and not bow to their demands.
PTM leader and MNA
@mjdawar
speaks to
@BBCUrdu
and says they will make the list of their demands known once their activists reach Miranshah. He says the "primary demand will be to ask for removal of military presence from Waziristan."
Thousands of people across the country have been picked up by the authorities after the violent protests of last week.
Families say they have not heard back from their loved ones, nor do they know what charges are framed against them.
For
@AJEnglish
.
Indian government officials standing outside the
#Pakistan
High Commission in New Delhi today and informing all Indian invitees that GoI has boycotted the Pakistan National Day programme & requesting them to do the same.
Haven't done this in a while...
So
@shrutimenon10
and I trawl through massive amount of research conducted by the
@DisinfoEU
, which revealed the astonishing disinfo campaign and influence ops carried out in UNHRC/EU to further Indian interests.
Last time, PMLN held the TLP out for over 3 weeks, and eventually succumbed when it became obvious how one state institute was actively facilitating the TLP, as the agreement shows.
This time, the surrender was entirely unilateral. PTI couldn't handle things for more than 3 days
Manzoor Pashteen responds to DG ISPR presser and says that PTM had six demands, not three as claimed by the DG, and none of them have been fulfilled so far.
"Our first demand was to punish Rao Anwar. We all know what happened with him."
I personally know three people who have had multiple meetings with Shahid Khaqan Abbasi and all three came out saying SKA was simply THE most capable and smartest govt official they have ever engaged with. Mind, none of them are N-supporters or politically inclined.
After nine and a half years, case against Asia Bibi finally quashed.
Nothing can bring back all the time she had to spent in captivity, but one can hope that she is now allowed to live her life in peace, united with her family.
General Faiz Hameed's name first started circulating probably around September last year when the by-election for then NA-120 was taking place. Was part of mainstreaming TLP and MML.
The total number of 'enforced disappearances' in Pakistan has been increasing over the last few years.
According to official figures:
2015 - 649
2016 - 728
2017 - 868
2018 - 899 [in first ten months]
All you need to know about Shahid Afridi's 'autobiography', without wasting your precious time or 500 rupees.
@OsmanSamiuddin
takes one for the rest of us.
Uff, look at this stat.
"India’s four most threatening batsmen Kohli, Rohit Sharma, MS Dhoni and Hardik Pandya combined have faced 639 balls from Pakistan’s spinners in ODIs since 2011 and been dismissed just twice." by the great
@MazherArshad
"No army in the world is involved in commercial activities but our's is selling even cement, meat and bread. They want to earn as per a commercial model but want to be dealt with like an armed force."
~ Justice Shaukat Siddiqui
"Police officials say they have physical evidence and DNA tests linking the defendants to Asifa’s death. They also say they have interviewed more than 130 witnesses, who “unequivocally corroborated the facts that emerged.’’
While electronic media is giving wide coverage on the human rights abuses in the Indian-Administered Kashmir on Kashmir Solidarity Day, it is jarring to see how conveniently they are ignoring country-wide protests by PTM after the death of Arman Luni. Complete silence.
Husband and employees allegedly strip woman naked, beat her over refusal to dance for them
But please pass a resolution against Aurat March and organisers because it is vulgar and against Islam.
Fourteen tweets between 5.00pm-6.30pm by PTI's official twitter account; lecturing journalists, criticising their work, questioning their motives and essentially telling them how to do their job and almost implying how deviating from state narrative is unpatriotic.
Hate politicos all you want, call Imran the greatest saviour this country needs, believe that corruption is the biggest threat to us, but at least, AT LEAST, do acknowledge that there's a systematic, organised media clampdown underway, targeting Dawn and Jang Group.
Atique Riaz, an accountant in Lahore, is a father of two children. His wife, Sanam Javed Khan, was arrested on May 10 and is still in custody.
“I don’t know what to do. My kids have not stopped crying and calling for their mother."
Terribly, terribly disappointing. This was a great opportunity to stand ground and show the bigots they can't bully the government. Very sad that it came to this.
A Presiding Officer in Pindi speaks to
@BBCUrdu
about the Election Day and talks about the obstacles he faced while conducting his duties and how security officials interrupted him from doing his job properly.
"The battering of Dawn is calculated and intentional - if the internationally recognised independent media voice can be bludgeoned, is anyone safe in the mainstream media?"
IPI award winner
@cyalm
tells
@AsadHashim
on pressure faced by Dawn newspaper
My father, Syed Shabeer Hussain, passed away earlier today.
His funeral prayers will take place at the Farooq-e-Azam Mosque in Block K, North Nazimabad, after Asr Namaz at 5.15pm.
As always, you can trust Justice Faez Isa.
SC bench questions the legitimacy of Tehreek Labbaik Pakistan and asks on what grounds was it registered.
Hearing adjourned till second week of November.
Some trigger terms on social media and otherwise. Good identifiers to know where people's politics lie.
Malala
Asma Jahangir
Aasia Bibi
PTM / Manzoor Pashteen.
Farook Naik: “Asset details of autonomous children should not be summoned either.”
CJP Nisar: “Now, all children are autonomous and mature. But daughters are under guardianship till marriage.”
Uhh .. WHAT???
And just to remind that there's no light at the end of the tunnel, here's the saddest thing that happened today.
Sadder than Kiwis losing.
Sadder than Federer losing.
This is it. This is the end. The greatest Pakistani publication,
@HeraldPakistan
is no more.
"In any given year, there are about 40 flavors available, including the core flavors — plain milk chocolate, strawberry, sake, wasabi, matcha, Tokyo Banana and a dark-chocolate variety called “sweetness for adults” — plus 20 to 30 rotating new ones. "
So it appears that Khadim Hussain Rizvi, along with top leadership of TLP, has been arrested from Lahore.
Mind goes back to what CJP Saqib Nisar said in London couple of days ago when asked about action against the religious party.
Question: why is it that politicians like Faisal Raza Abidi, Nehal Hashmi r jailed in contempt but judiciary is silent on religious extremist who incite hatred & violence through fatwas?
CJP Saqib Nisar: you will soon know ....
With news coming in that the death toll has touched 200 in Mastung, this is now the single largest terrorist attack in the history of Pakistan.
But watching electronic media and following state response, you'd never guess it.
#Mastung
Message sent by the Registrar Supreme Court:
"For Tickers
Hon’ble Chief Justice of Pakistan Nr Justice Mian Saqib Nisar donates one million rupees as an initiative measure for construction of dams. Regards"
Please, somebody explain to me what is this sudden obsession??
Sooo ... I enjoyed the PM House car auction so much that I decided to go there again this morning for the buffalo auction. And as expected, it did not disappoint.
What I saw at the PM House Buffalo auction - for
@BBCUrdu
Pashtun Tahaffuz Movement not given NOC to conduct their rally in Lahore tomorrow but the leaders say they will go ahead with it.
"If we can take out a rally in North Waziristan, why can't we do it in Lahore."
My latest for
@BBCUrdu
Ultimately, the important thing to remember is that this has been going on for a while, by all countries, at diff scale.
What
@DisinfoEU
has done here is to compile all the evidence together and put it down in one big, massive investigation which asks all the right questions.
On PM Imran Khan's first year in power, where his team struggled to shore up economy; where he went on a charm offensive on Foreign Policy front; but most significantly, 'cracked the whip domestically on dissent and hounded opposition.'
For
@BBCWorld
So the helicopters Naeem ul Haq announced PM house will be putting up for auction, two of them are 45 yrs old and two are 25 yrs old.
NONE of them is air-worthy. As one source told
@Asif_Farooqi
, unlikely to find any buyer for these helis.
WAIT, WHAT?!?! WHAT THE FUCK IS HAPPENING?!?!? IMRAN KHAN PLEADING PAKISTANIS TO DONATE FOR DAM FUND ?!?!?!?!
SOMEBODY STOP THIS MADNESS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
"The drive, launched by populist Chief Justice Saqib Nisar in July, has so far gathered $29.1m. If donations continue at this rate, it will take 87 years for Pakistan to reach the initial cost estimates"
According to the data compiled by LJCP, the total number of pending cases in all the courts in Pakistan stands at 1.85m cases.
In Punjab, for Civil/Family cases, a single judge has to deal with a staggering a 1043 cases.
My latest for the
@BBCUrdu
.
Today, as part of
@BBCUrdu
series on PTM, I write about the movement's relationship with the military and why, despite both sides emphasising the need for dialouge, find it difficult to trust each other.
Afghan refugees ordered out of Pakistan continued their arduous, and often, humiliating exit from the country, which many of whom have been calling home for decades.
I met some of those Afghan families at the Torkham border.
For
@AJEnglish
:
Where former RAW chief declares his love for ISI and expresses his wish to head the agency, and where the former ISI chief says his agency doesn't have to inform the government or military top brass of the decisions it takes.
For
@BBCUrdu
-
Asad Umar: Agar Asad Umar bhi Wazeer e Khazana bun jayein tou bhi masayil hal nahin hongay.
AU: Jub tak Imran Khan khud nahin dekhein gay masayil hal nahin hongay.
Imran Khan: Dollar jub barrhta hai tou rupay ki qeemat kum ho jati hai.
"Only one army officer came and requested me to end the Faizabad Dharna. He was shivering and bowing before me. Don't want to take his name because of his seniority." ~
TLP chief Khadim Hussain Rizvi at the Karachi Press Club.
The CJP Saqib Nisar is seemingly on a crusade to build two dams to counter water crisis and has initiated a donation account.
I try to explore can we crowdfund a mega project like this? Has it ever been done, or is it just an absurd gimmick
For
@BBCUrdu
This mighty be difficult for Indian govt to refute.
Pakistan takes a group of foreign journos to Balakot where Indians claimed to have 'destroyed a seminary and killed 00s of 'JeM terrorists'.
BBC was part of the tour and here's what they saw.
A long-read from my recent visit to some tribal districts, where people shared their harrowing experiences of having lost their loved ones; receiving threats from TTP; and living in perpetual state of fear, afraid what the return of Afg Tbs would lead to.
This is going to be a nasty Sunday.
Unbelievable how the security forces are dealing with PTM despite their avowed promise to protest peacefully.
Not a single rally taken out them in the past was violent. Electronic media is just fueling fire and making it worse.
Yaar, what a gifted storyteller
@irfanjunejo
is.
Though now I am cursing myself for watching this video at 1am and have no idea what to do with my desperate craving for a Karachi bun kabab.
The Story of a Karachi Burger.
PTI leadership will do well to patiently, calmly read this oped by
@WusatUllahKhan
for
@BBCUrdu
and try to pay heed to what he says here. Seriously.
The gist of it, essentially: you can't flog a donkey and make it run like a horse.
Detailed investigation on China's Hidden Camps where Uighur Muslims are kept in detention, now in Urdu.
This is the first article in an exclusive series on Uighur Muslims for
@BBCUrdu
-
Justice Faez took ISI to task in the hearing at the SC today and questioned their competence for not providing the required information about Khadim Rizvi.
"I fear for the safety of this country," he said.
My report for
@BBCUrdu
.
Oh boy, I don't even want to imagine the gloating and bragging by Khadim Hussain Rizvi, his followers, Ummat newspaper et all after the announcement by Geert Wilders to cancel the competition.
They will hog all the credit, about how their aggressive tactics forced it.
Two senior U.S. defense officials with direct knowledge told Foreign Policy's
@laraseligman
that U.S. personnel recently counted Islamabad’s F-16s and found none missing.
Very good speech. Wide-ranging and lists down the plethora of problems facing Pakistan today. Shows awareness about the task ahead.
Delivered in an informal, earnest manner that should earn him decent amount of time to walk the talk.
Oh my god ...
It took me almost three hours to finish reading this piece by the mother who wrote about how she lost her child on the night of 13th August during a mobile snatching, CANNOT comprehend how she managed to even write this. SO painful.
The numbers in this story are making me cry. I mean, do these guys have any idea HOW much 350bn USD really is?
Makes me wonder if we, as a nation, need math tuition more than anything else.
"The chief justice remarked that Pakistan needed Rs1.5 trillion to build dams, and asked Riaz if he could build one for the country. He also told the property tycoon that if he could not come up at least a trillion rupees, the case would be discussed on its merits alone."
Manzoor Pashteen demands a Truth and Reconciliation Commission to provide justice against extrajudicial killings and forced disappearances.
My report for
@BBCUrdu
with tons of help from
@Izhar2u
More than 300 Pakistanis were aboard Adriana, which drowned off the southwestern coast of Greece, resulting in death of more than 700.
@AliaChughtai
and I traveled to Gujarat and Kashmir to meet some of the families.
This is their story. For
@AJEnglish