Pakistani cricketer Muhammad Waseem ties the knot/node/2539256/pakistan
Pakistani cricketer Muhammad Waseem ties the knot
This file photograph, posted on February 11, 2023, shows Pakistani pacer Muhammad Waseem at a wedding event in Lahore. (Photo courtesy: Instagram/@waseem.jnr)
ISLAMABAD: Pakistani fast bowler Muhammad Waseem tied the knot on Thursday, as fans and his teammates took to social media to congratulate him on entering a new chapter in his life.
Waseem, who made his international debut for Pakistan in 2021, has played in all three formats for the green shirts.
The pacer, known for bowling at an impressive pace above 140 kilometers per hour, has played 29 T20Is for Pakistan and taken 36 wickets while featuring in 20 ODIs and taking 34 wickets in them.
The 22-year-old pacer who hails from Pakistan’s restive North Waziristan tribal district, was not included in the final squad of the T20 World Cup 2024.
“And he has united their hearts,” Waseem wrote a verse of the Qur’an as the caption on an Instagram post in which he can be seen holding his wife’s hands. Waseem did not share any details about his wife.
Congratulations poured in from fans and teammates.
“Many, many congratulations,” Pakistani fast bowler Hunain Shah wrote beneath the post.
Pakistani all-rounder Shadab Khan also congratulated Waseem on tying the knot.
“Mashallah, mashallah so happy for you,” all-rounder Aamer Jamal wrote.
KARACHI: Seven people were killed and ten injured after a road accident occurred between a coaster and a trailer in Pakistan’s southern city of Karachi on Sunday.
The incident took place on the central Mauripur Road, notorious for traffic jams due to the heavy flow of trawlers and trucks carrying goods to and from the city’s port facilities.
Karachi, Pakistan’s commercial capital, is a major hub for import and export, benefiting from a bustling harbor that provides access to global sea lanes.
“We received seven bodies, one male and six females,” said Karachi’s top police surgeon, Dr. Summaiya Syed, while speaking to Arab News.
She informed that among the 10 injured people, four were male while six were female, with three of them in critical condition.
Road accidents are common in Pakistan, where traffic rules are rarely followed and roads are often in poor condition.
Karachi, the largest and most densely populated Pakistani metropolis, experiences a heavy load of traffic on nearly every artery of the city.
According to media reports, the speeding coaster rammed into the trailer and overturned as the latter’s driver was trying to take a U-turn.
Sindh Chief Minister Murad Ali Shah expressed grief over the incident, saying the licenses of all reckless drivers should be suspended.
Twenty inmates stage jailbreak in Azad Kashmir, one killed – officials
The incident took place at the Poonch district jail in Rawalakot city where the inmates used a revolver to hold a sentry hostage
A search operation is underway to locate the escapees, some of whom were held on serious charges including terrorism
Updated 54 min 43 sec ago
AFP
MUZAFFARABAD: Twenty detainees, some accused of terrorism, staged a prison break in Azad Kashmir on Sunday, officials told AFP, adding that one was “killed in the crossfire” during the escape.
“The inmates had a revolver that they used to hold a sentry hostage,” said Badar Munir, an official with the regional ministry of interior.
“It is unclear whether they seized it (the weapon) from jail officials or if it was brought in from outside,” Munir added.
The incident took place at the Poonch district jail in Rawalakot city, about 110 kilometers (68 miles) south of Muzaffarabad, the capital of Azad Kashmir.
“In total, 20 people escaped from the prison. One was killed in the crossfire, while 19 others remain at large,” the inspector general of Kashmir prisons, Waheed Ali Gillani, told AFP.
A senior local police official, Riaz Mughal, told AFP that police had blocked the entry and exit points of Rawalakot, and a search operation was currently under way to locate the escapees.
Prisons in Pakistan are notorious for overcrowding, poor conditions, corruption and human rights violations. Additionally, slow judicial processes contribute to prolonged stays for prisoners.
Militant groups have organized several mass jailbreaks in Pakistan in the past, including one in the northwestern town of Bannu in 2012 that sprung 400 prisoners.
QUETTA: Torrential rains killed seven people, including two children, and injured at least 25 in southwest Pakistan, a Provincial Disaster Management Authority (PDMA) official in Balochistan said on Sunday, adding that Dera Bugti district, about 360 kilometers from Quetta, was the most affected area.
Pakistan’s struggle with natural disasters intensified in 2022, as unprecedented monsoon rains wreaked havoc nationwide, claiming 1,700 lives and resulting in an estimated $35 billion in financial losses.
The country’s southern belt, including Balochistan, bore a significant brunt of the devastation.
Pakistan contributes less than one percent to global carbon emissions, though it ranks among the top ten nations most vulnerable to climate change.
“Relief operation is underway, and we have provided food items and tents to the affected,” Muhammad Younus, who supervises the PDMA emergency cell, told Arab News while confirming the number of fatalities. “Officials are doing the damage assessment survey.”
The photo taken on June 30, 2024, shows a house destroyed by torrential rains in the southwest Pakistan. (AN Photo)
Younus informed the province expected pre-monsoon rainfall early next month, starting from July 7.
“Relevant departments have been asked to clear the water channels before any disaster,” he added.
Speaking to Arab News, Riaz Ali, a resident of Sajjo Colony in Sui, a town in Dera Bugti district, said he lost his 17-year-old son a day earlier when the roof of a local restaurant collapsed due to heavy rain.
“It was 4 or 5 PM when the heavy rainstorm began and lasted for 30 minutes,” he recalled. “In the evening, I received a call from my neighbor, who works at a hospital, to tell me that my son had died. I went to the hospital to receive his body. He had been injured in his head.”
The current situation has reminded the residents of the province of the catastrophe two years ago when heavy rains led to flash floods that destroyed houses, agricultural fields and public infrastructure in the province.
Sannaullah Panezai, an associate professor of geography at the University of Balochistan, noted the rise in erratic weather patterns in Pakistan.
“Such rains mostly began by the end of July and lasted till September in the past,” he said, pointing out the region did not receive much rain in 2023. “Climate change has been affecting rainfall and causing flash floods.”
The recent rains in Balochistan have also caused concern for agricultural production in the area.
“Our garden of apples has been partially affected,” Fazal Deen, who has his own fields in Ziarat, told Arab News. “We have also planted vegetables on 10 acres of land that have been completely destroyed.”
ISLAMABAD: Pakistan is installing a national firewall to filter and block “propaganda and unwanted content” online, enhance its capacity to protect digital data from hackers and ensure cybersecurity, confirmed a top government official on Sunday, emphasizing the measure was not aimed at curtailing dissent on social media.
A firewall is a network security device that monitors and filters incoming and outgoing network traffic based on predetermined security parameters. It constitutes a barrier that sits between a private internal network and the public Internet. The main purpose of a firewall is to allow non-threatening traffic in and to keep dangerous and undesirable traffic out.
Pakistan’s Internet regulatory body, the Pakistan Telecommunication Authority (PTA), already possesses the technological ability to block unwanted content and prevent the access of local users to specific websites. However, the installation of the national firewall is expected enhance its capability to filter and monitor the Internet content on a wider scale.
“The PTA is trying to enhance its capability through the installation of the national firewall to block propaganda, unwanted content on the Internet besides ensuring data protection and cybersecurity,” a top Ministry of Information Technology official told Arab News on condition of anonymity since he was not authorized to speak to media about the issue.
“The PTA is installing the firewall to boost national security,” he added. “The Internet users should not worry about any crackdown or limiting their views and traffic.”
Pakistan has frequently blocked the Internet and social media applications in the name of national security in recent years, prompting digital rights activists to express reservations over the firewall and its likely utilization to filter the social media content and stifle dissenting voices.
“Try to see the firewall within a broader national interest perspective, not just from the social media prism,” the ministry official said, acknowledging the firewall could also be used for filtering and blocking the social media content.
He noted that just the installation of the firewall was not going to be enough to achieve the objective, adding it would also require a complete infrastructure and mechanism to process and analyze the data and initiate further necessary corrective actions.
However, he declined to reveal information about the cost and purchase of the firewall.
“Every country is using the firewall to protect its data and national interest,” he continued. “Therefore, we should not worry about it.”
The PTA did not respond to Arab News’ queries until the filing of this report.
Information technology experts warned the advantages and disadvantages of a firewall would depend on its usage and the subsequent actions.
“We could use this firewall to block our users’ access to content like Islamophobia and pornography while filtering out content spreading propaganda against our national institutions,” Muhammad Zohaib Khan, Chairman of Pakistan IT Industry Association, the main representative body for the country’s IT and IT-enabled services, told Arab News. “This will help us protect against cyberattacks against our digital assets.”
He maintained the installation of the firewall was a “good step,” though he admitted its “benefits will depend on its use.
“As long as it doesn’t hurt the IT industry, we support the initiative,” he added.
Mubashir Sargana, a cybersecurity professional and an Internet public policy researcher, said the firewall would help the authorities identify the originator and recipients of specific content along with the whole chain involved in further spreading that it on social media and websites.
“Specific hashtags and keywords will be entered to filter the content and get real time popups with which the authorities will be able to easily track down its originator and recipients,” he said.
“This is basically an Internet surveillance mechanism that can easily become a threat to privacy and freedom of expression,” Sargana added. “Only time will tell if the authorities are going to use the firewall to boost cybersecurity or hound and curb online dissent.”
ISLAMABAD: Federal Minister for Finance and Revenue Muhammad Aurangzeb expressed optimism on Sunday Pakistan would secure a “larger and longer” bailout agreement in its negotiations with the International Monetary Fund (IMF) in July, following the approval of the $67.76 billion federal budget.
Pakistan began discussions about a new loan with IMF officials soon after completing a $3 billion program that helped the country stave off a sovereign debt default last year.
The international lending agency sent its delegation to Pakistan in May to hold negotiations with the new government.
Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif also confirmed during a speech at the National Assembly on Tuesday that his administration had prepared the budget in consultation with the IMF, after repeatedly emphasizing the importance of securing another bailout facility to keep macroeconomic reforms on track.
“I have already said we are moving in a positive way,” the finance minister said while discussing the fresh IMF program during a media interaction in the federal capital. “During July we should get into a good agreement.”
“I am very optimistic that we will be able to take it through the finish line for an extended fund program, larger and longer in nature,” he added.
Pakistan has sought IMF loans in recent years due to a combination of economic challenges, including significant fiscal and current account deficits, declining foreign exchange reserves and rising public debt.
These economic vulnerabilities have been exacerbated by external shocks like fluctuating commodity prices and internal challenges such as political instability and policy inconsistency.
The government has maintained the country’s economy is on the mend but considers the new bailout important to ensure a substantial financial cushion.
The finance minister reiterated that he viewed the program being funded and supported by the IMF as part of Pakistan’s own endeavor to strengthen itself economically.
“We need the IMF because not only these IFIs [international financial institutions] but even our firendly nations want a backstop which is the fund program,” he continued. “What we have to do in the next three years to make sure this is the last program.”
He mentioned he had already been in virtual discussions with the IMF to move toward a staff-level agreement.
Aurangzeb said the basic framework, including the prior actions, had been formulated while the IMF delegation was in Pakistan, saying that the structural benchmarks of the program had been the same for the last three or four years while Pakistan had not implemented.
“Now we have told them to trust us and we will get this done,” he added.
