Pakistani documentary-maker moves from Marvel to Star Wars to direct new movie 

Sharmeen Obaid-Chinoy attends the "Ms. Marvel" New York Gold House Event at AMC Lincoln Square Theater on June 08, 2022 in New York City. (AFP/File)
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Updated 08 April 2023
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Pakistani documentary-maker moves from Marvel to Star Wars to direct new movie 

  • Sharmeen Obaid-Chinoy will direct British actor Daisy Ridley as she returns to the role of Rey 
  • Obaid-Chinoy has won two Oscars for her documentaries denouncing violence against women 

LONDON: Three new Star Wars movies are in the making, studio executives announced Friday, including the first film in the cinematic universe to be directed by a woman. 

Pakistan-born Oscar-winner Sharmeen Obaid-Chinoy is leaping from the Marvel universe to the Star Wars galaxy to direct a new film set 15 years after the end of the last movie. 

She will direct British actor Daisy Ridley as she returns to the role of Rey, the heroine of the last trilogy, which wound up in 2019 to mixed reviews. 

The new film will follow Rey’s efforts to revive the Jedi order. 

Obaid-Chinoy, who has two Oscars for documentaries denouncing violence against women, said she was “drawn to the hero’s journey” in the Star Wars universe. 

“I spent the better part of my lifetime meeting real heroes who are overcoming oppressive regimes and battling impossible odds and I think that’s the heart of Star Wars,” she said. 

Obaid-Chinoy directed last year’s Ms. Marvel television series featuring a Muslim superhero. 

Kathleen Kennedy, president of Lucasfilm, the studio bought by Disney in 2012, said each of the three films would cover different periods in the Star Wars narrative. And each will have a different director. 

James Mangold, himself a two-time Oscar nominee, will helm another of the films, fresh from directing the latest in the Indiana Jones series, which is due for release later this year. 

His film will look at the origins of the Jedi order, thousands of years before the original storyline. 

And the third film will be directed by Dave Filoni, an old hand in the Stars Wars universe, having produced several television series, including the wildly successful The Mandalorian, now in its third season. 

Fans at the convention also got a first view of US actress Rosario Dawson in the role of Ahsoka, a female Jedi warrior who first appeared in an animated series. 

The character has been such as hit with the Star Wars fanbase that she has graduated to a live-action television series, due out in August. 

But fans will have to wait until 2025 for the first of the three films to be released. 


Cop among two killed in separate IED blasts in northwestern Pakistan

Updated 23 November 2024
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Cop among two killed in separate IED blasts in northwestern Pakistan

  • No group has so far claimed responsibility for blasts which took place in Bajaur tribal district
  • Seventy-five police personnel have been killed, 113 injured in militant attacks in KP this year

PESHAWAR: A police constable and a civilian were killed in separate Improvised Explosive Device (IED) blasts in northwestern Pakistan on Saturday, police said, as Islamabad struggles to contain surging militancy in its Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP) province.
The IED blasts took place in the northwestern Bajaur tribal district on Saturday morning, killing one cop and a civilian.
As per official data, 75 police personnel have been killed and 113 injured in militant attacks and targeted assassinations in KP province this year.
“Both blasts were reported in the premises of Loi Mamund police station earlier today,” Bajaur Police spokesperson Muhammad Israr told Arab News.
No group has claimed responsibility for the blasts so far.
“An IED was placed in front of the policeman’s house which detonated when he was leaving home for duty at around 9:30 am in Mena village of Loi Mamund,” Israr added.
He said the other blast took place around 8:00 am in Irab village, also located within the vicinity of Loi Mamund police station, in which one person was killed.
Israr said police have started investigating both incidents.
Pakistan blames the surge in militancy in KP province, which borders Afghanistan, on the Pakistani Taliban militants that it alleges have found safe havens in Afghanistan.
Kabul denies the allegations and urges Pakistan to resolve its security challenges on its own. Relations between the two countries have deteriorated since November 2022 when a fragile truce between the Pakistani state and the Pakistani Taliban broke down.


Mourners in Pakistan’s Kurram district demand inquiry after sectarian clashes kill 41

Updated 23 November 2024
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Mourners in Pakistan’s Kurram district demand inquiry after sectarian clashes kill 41

  • Gunmen opened fire on vehicles carrying 41 members of Shiite community in Kurram district on Thursday
  • Authorities impose curfew, suspend mobile phone services in district long plagued by sectarian clashes

ISLAMABAD: Mourners in northwestern Pakistan’s Kurram district on Saturday demanded the government hold a transparent inquiry into sectarian clashes that killed 41 people this week, as fear grips the restive area days after the attack. 
Authorities imposed a curfew and suspended mobile phone services in Kurram district after 41 people were killed on Thursday when gunmen opened fire on vehicles carrying members of the minority Shiite community. 
The assault, one of the deadliest such attacks in recent years in the area, took place in the district where sectarian clashes have killed dozens of people in recent months. 
“A transparent inquiry of this incident should be carried out,” Hayat Abbas Najafi, one of the mourners, told Reuters at one of the district’s main towns Parachinar during a funeral ceremony. 
“We call on the government as well as security institutions that Parchinar, which is a great part of Pakistan, should be saved from sectarianism and should be provided safety and security.”
No one immediately claimed responsibility for the attack, which came a week after authorities reopened a key highway in the region that had been closed for weeks following deadly clashes.
Previous clashes in July and September killed dozens of people and ended only after a tribal council called for a ceasefire.
Sajjad Hussain, another mourner, said among those killed were infants as young as six months old and women.
“They were innocent passengers. What was their fault,” he asked. 
Shop owners in Parachinar announced a three-day strike on Friday to protest the attack while locals described an atmosphere of fear across the district following the incident. 
Interior Minister Mohsin Naqvi called the shootings a “terrorist attack.” Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif and President Asif Ali Zardari condemned the attack, and Sharif said those behind the killing of innocent civilians will not go unpunished.
Shiite Muslims make up about 15 percent of the 240 million population of Sunni-majority Pakistan.
With inputs from Reuters


UAE promotes Arab culture and cuisine at three-day festival in Karachi 

Updated 23 November 2024
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UAE promotes Arab culture and cuisine at three-day festival in Karachi 

  • UAE consulate in Karachi kicks off celebrations ahead of nation’s National Day 
  • UAE is one of Pakistan’s largest trading partners and major source of remittances

KARACHI: The United Arab Emirates (UAE) Consul General in Karachi this week paid a visit to promote several stalls selling Arab cuisine and highlighting Arab culture at a three-day festival in Pakistan’s southern port city of Karachi, ahead of the Gulf nation’s National Day. 
Sindh’s Culture Minister Syed Zulfiqar Ali Shah inaugurated the three-day Sindh Craft Festival on Friday which showcases traditional shawls, quilts, handlooms, and caps made by artists from all over Sindh at Karachi’s famous Port Grand entertainment hub. 
UAE Consul General Dr. Bakheet Ateeq Al Rumaithi visited the festival on Friday to highlight Arab cuisine and review stalls promoting Arab culture at the festival. The UAE consulate is gearing up for celebrations to mark the nation’s 53rd National Day on Dec. 2.
“Various stalls have been set up at Port Grand keeping in mind Arab culture,” the UAE Consulate in Karachi said in a statement on Friday. 

Sindh’s Culture Minister Syed Zulfiqar Ali Shah (2L) inaugurates three-day Sindh Craft Festival during an event to mark the UAE’s 53rd National Day in Karachi on November 22, 2024. (Photo courtesy: UAE Consulate Karachi)

Al Rumaithi noted that women, children and the elderly were all taking part in the three-day cultural festival. 
“We have a centuries-old relationship with Pakistan which is strengthening,” he observed. 

UAE Consul General Dr. Bakheet Ateeq Al Rumaithi (5R) cuts the cake to celebrate the UAE’s 53rd National Day in Karachi on November 22, 2024. (Photo courtesy: UAE Consulate Karachi)

The UAE is one of Pakistan’s largest trading partners and a major source of foreign investment, valued at over $10 billion in the last 20 years, according to the UAE ministry of foreign affairs. The UAE-Pakistan trade volume rose to $7.9 billion in 2023, up 12 percent from 2022. 
In May this year, Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif said the Emirates had committed $10 billion to invest in promising economic sectors in Pakistan. The Pakistan Business Council (PBC), set up this September at the Sharjah Chamber of Commerce and Industry, also aims to increase Pakistan’s bilateral trade volume with the UAE to $40 billion in three years.
The UAE is also home to more than a million Pakistani expatriates and the second-largest source of remittances to Pakistan after Saudi Arabia.


T20 Blind Cricket World Cup kicks off in Pakistan today sans India’s participation

Updated 23 November 2024
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T20 Blind Cricket World Cup kicks off in Pakistan today sans India’s participation

  • Pakistan’s blind cricket team to take on South Africa in Lahore today
  • India failed to secure clearance from government to travel to Pakistan

ISLAMABAD: The fourth T20 Blind Cricket World Cup will kick off today, Saturday, with Pakistan set to face South Africa in the eastern city of Lahore, state-run media reported days after India pulled out of the tournament.
The T20 Blind Cricket World Cup is scheduled to be held in Pakistan from Nov. 23-Dec. 3. As per Radio Pakistan, the tournament will feature blind cricket teams from Pakistan, Sri Lanka, Bangladesh, South Africa, Nepal and Afghanistan.  
“In the Fourth edition of the Blind Cricket T20 World Cup, the opening match will be played between South Africa and Pakistan in Lahore today,” Radio Pakistan said. 
India was also scheduled to take part in the tournament but the Cricket Association for the Blind in India (CABI) announced on Wednesday that its blind cricket team was withdrawing from the event, citing its failure to secure clearance from New Delhi to travel to Pakistan. 
Political tensions between nuclear-armed neighbors India and Pakistan have restricted cultural exchanges and bilateral sports events between the two nations.
Both countries have fought three wars, two of them over the Muslim-majority Himalayan region of Kashmir, which they both claim in full but rule in part.
India withdrew its blind cricket team from the tournament with a little over three months left before the start of the 2025 Champions Trophy, which is also set to be held in Pakistan in February/March next year. The Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) informed the International Cricket Council (ICC) this month that India will not travel to Pakistan for the tournament.
The ICC informed the PCB of the BCCI’s decision, following which Pakistan demanded an explanation from the cricket governing body. Pakistan has repeatedly insisted it will not agree for the tournament to be shifted to another country and has insisted India travel to Pakistan for the Champions Trophy.
Pakistan hosted last year’s Asia Cup but all of India’s games were played in Sri Lanka under a “hybrid” hosting model for the tournament. Several months later, Pakistan traveled to India for the 50-over World Cup.


Pakistani authorities block roads and motorways ahead of opposition’s Islamabad protest

Updated 23 November 2024
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Pakistani authorities block roads and motorways ahead of opposition’s Islamabad protest

  • Jailed Imran Khan’s party has called for a “long march” to Islamabad on Nov. 24 to demand his release
  • Motorway police say as per intelligence reports, protesters will be armed with sticks and slingshots

ISLAMABAD: Pakistan’s National Highways and Motorway Police (NHMP) has said that motorways across the country have been sealed from various areas to protect people’s lives ahead of a planned protest by former prime minister Imran Khan’s Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) party to Islamabad on Sunday.
Pakistani authorities sealed off major arteries and roads with shipping containers leading to Islamabad from the surrounding Rawalpindi city and other areas on Friday ahead of the PTI’s “long march” scheduled for Sunday, Nov. 24.
In a notification released on Friday, the NHMP cited intelligence reports that protesters were planning to disrupt law and order in the capital, adding that they would be armed with sticks and slingshots.
“To prevent any untoward situation and to protect the lives of the people, motorways have been closed from various locations,” the NHMP said.
“The lives and property of the people will be guaranteed at all costs. Those who take the law into their hands will be dealt with strictly.”
Hours earlier, the NHMP had shared a notification on its social media platform X in which it had said that certain sections of the motorway were closed due to maintenance work. These sections were: M-1 Islamabad to Peshawar, M-2 Islamabad to Lahore, M-3 Lahore to Abdul Hakeem, M-4 Pindi Bhattian to Multan, M-14 Hakla to Yarik and M-11 Lahore to Sialkot.
As per local media reports, the Metro Bus service between the twin cities of Islamabad and Rawalpindi will be suspended on Nov. 24 while a ban on public gatherings has been imposed in Punjab from Nov. 23-25 ahead of the PTI’s march.
The PTI’s protest is primarily aimed at pressurizing the government to end Khan’s imprisonment which has lasted for over a year on what his party contends are politically motivated charges. The party also aims to raise its voice against alleged rigging in the Feb. 8 general elections while calling for measures to ensure judicial independence, which it says has been undermined by the 26th constitutional amendment. The government denies this. 
Earlier this week, Pakistan’s interior ministry had authorized the deployment of paramilitary Punjab Rangers and Frontier Corps troops in Islamabad to maintain law and order.
Pakistan’s parliament also passed a law earlier this year to regulate public gatherings in Islamabad, specifying timings for rallies and designating specific areas. The law prescribes three-year jail terms for participants in illegal assemblies and 10-year imprisonment for repeat offenders.