Thousands start observing Aitekaf in Pakistan today

Thousands of faithful will  start observing Aitekaf across the country at mosques from Tuesday (today) after Asar prayers. Aitkaf sitting is a Sunnah of the Holy Prophet (Peace Be Upon Him) and carries a multitude of blessings of the Allah Almighty.Men observe Aitkaf in small cubicles, set up by hanging large cloth sheets inside mosques, whereas women observe it at any corner or quite place in the house which is not frequently visited by others.All major mosques have already completed the registration process for Aitekaf.Large city mosques became the centre of special prayers where hundreds of worshippers were set to gather for this religious duty; an intensive worship observed during the last 10 days of Ramadan, which also involves confinement of women to a small place inside a mosque or in the house.

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Heir to Bhutto dynasty seeking revival in Pakistan?s election

ISLAMABAD: Pakistan’s only major left-leaning political party is fighting for its electoral relevance and to preserve the legacy of the country’s best-known political dynasty weeks before the country heads to the polls.In his first election campaign, Bilawal Bhutto Zardari, the scion of the storied Bhutto family who now heads the Pakistan People’s Party (PPP), is attempting to recapture the support his mother, two-time former Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto, enjoyed on her return from exile in 2007, before she was assassinated on the campaign trail.Party leaders insist the 29-year-old Bhutto, Oxford-educated like his mother and grandfather - also a former prime minister - brings a fresh new appeal to the party as it attempts to revive its waning fortunes in a general election called for July 25.“With Bilawal in the frontline of our campaign we hope to see a huge swathe of young people join us in our journey to turn back the tide of extremism, misgovernance and anti-democratic trends,” PPP Senator Sherry Rehman told Reuters.Whether his father, former President Asif Ali Zardari, will be an asset or an obstacle in that effort remains a source of keen debate in Islamabad.Some analysts and party insiders say Zardari’s tainted image, the result of numerous corruption allegations, could cost the party at the polls, where it will contrast with opposition rival Imran Khan’s relentless anti-graft message.On the other hand, the most likely route back to power could be a post-election alliance with the charismatic Khan’s Pakistan Tehreek-e-Infasf (PTI), which has seemingly eclipsed the PPP in the past five years, and the former president would be a key figure in any such negotiations.Once the country’s most popular party, the PPP finds itself on the brink of political irrelevance at the national level, and analysts believe it is more likely to be Zardari’s ability to cut a deal, rather than his son’s populist rhetoric, that will keep the party afloat.“Zardari is looking at himself as a post-election facilitator rather than a major player in the actual electoral battle,” political analyst Aamer Ahmed Khan said.Both PPP and PTI officials were cagey when asked about the possibility of an alliance, but did not rule it out.“MR TEN PERCENT”Zardari spent a total of 11 years in jail on charges of corruption and murder, though he was never convicted of any of the offences for which he was held and has always maintained his innocence.He was released in 2004 after an eight-year stretch behind bars, and returned to Pakistan from self-exile three years later alongside Benazir Bhutto in her bid to retake the prime minister’s office and end the military rule of General Pervez Musharraf.Bhutto was assassinated on the campaign trail three months after her return in a suicide attack, the tragic saga adding to the Bhutto family’s status as a Pakistani equivalent of America’s Kennedys and India’s Gandhis.Bhutto’s father Zulfiqar, who founded the PPP, was hanged by General Zia-ul-Haq in 1979 after being deposed in a military coup, while her brother Murtaza was gunned down in the southern city of Karachi in 1996 while she was in office. Zardari was accused of his murder but cleared by the courts.In a wave of popular support that was generated by Benazir Bhutto’s return and continued after her assassination, the PPP swept to power and Zardari found himself wielding considerable power from the president’s office.While all the allegations against him were ultimately dismissed, and despite overseeing the country’s first transition of power by a civilian government, Zardari retains a tainted reputation, often going by the nickname “Mr. Ten Percent”.“I think Asif Zardari has been a victim of massive negative propaganda against him,” former PPP senator Farathullah Babar told Reuters. “If any of this was true he would not have spent 11 years in jail without a single conviction.” KINGMAKER“We are seeing pre-poll election manipulation where people from all political parties are going and joining one political party,” former PPP senator Babar said.PPP leaders say their campaign, fronted by Bilawal Bhutto, will focus in battling extremism and intolerance in a country scarred by more than a decade of militant violence.“The People’s Party is going to forcefully and emphatically distinguish itself as the party that believes that in the state of Pakistan we must ... not distinguish or discriminate between the adherents of any religion,” senator Aitzaz Ahsan said.But while the PPP retains significant support in the traditional Bhutto-Zardari family stronghold of Sindh province, it appears to have lost ground nationally to the PTI. A Gallup nationwide poll in March put the party on 17 percent, with PTI on 24 percent and PML-N on 36 percent.That suggests the best chance for the opposition parties would indeed be some sort of alliance.Some in Islamabad believe Zardari has been quietly building ties with the military to that end - a suspicion enhanced in March when the PPP declined an opportunity to lead the Senate and instead helped elect an independent as Senate chairman.“Zardari believes when the time to cobble together a government arrives they will need ... someone like him,” said Khan, the political analyst. “And he will become the kingmaker.”

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PTI accuses PMLN leaders,Hussain Haqqani of being behind Reham's book

ISLAMABAD: Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf on Tuesday accused some key leaders of the  Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz and Pakistan's former ambassador to Washington Hussain Haqqani of being behind a book authored by  Imran  Khan's former wife Reham Khan.Speaking to media, PTI central spokesman  demanded the Election Commission of Pakistan to ban the  book if it is possible."This is  the Raiwind Network which is being run by Hussain Haqqani," the spokesman said.He also asked the Islamic  Ideological  Council  to give  take up the issue as Reham Khan has attempted to damage the entire family system.Chaudhry asked Reham Khan to  tender apology for what  she had written in the book and cancel her plan to publish it.He said the Federal Investigation Agency's cyber-wing should take notice of the alleged exchange of emails between Reham Khan and former interior minister Ahsan Iqbal.Chaudhry said Imran Khan couldn't careless  about the "rubbish" written in the book.

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Monitoring and Evaluation Specialist

Monitoring and Evaluation Specialist (Louis Berger ) - Lahore, Punjab

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Internet sensation 'tarbooz wala' is actually a doctor-to-be!

KARACHI: Picture of a young 'tarbooz wala' surfaced on social media recently, and people are drooling over the watermelon-seller for his stunning looks, hazel eyes and the smile on his face. These people have been stating that the 'tarbooz wala' is in fact better looking than the Islamabadi 'chai wala' who went viral for his looks as well.But it turns out the good-looking fruit seller is NOT a fruit-seller but a medical student. The picture was taken while the doctor-to-be was preparing iftaar with his friends. The internet mistook him for a fruit seller, but the fact remains, he is indeed going viral on social media as we speak.Muhammad Awais also known as the 'tarbooz wala' is a future doctor studying at Ziauddin Medical College. Awais changed his profile picture on Facebook to the one which is going viral and captioned it: “Dr. Tarbooz Wala” acknowledging the fact that his picture has gone viral on social media.

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Chief Justice takes notice of acute water shortage in country

ISLAMABAD: Chief Justice Mian Saqib Nisar Monday took notice of the acute shortage of water supply throughout the country.Notices have been issued to Attorney General for Pakistan, Advocate General Islamabad, Secretary CADD, Mayor of Metropolitan Corporation Islamabad, Chief Commissioner of Islamabad and Chairman CDA.The matter has fixed in court at Islamabad and subsequently at respective Branch Registries with regard to such water shortage.The matter would be heard at principal seat Islamabad Court on June 7.

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Wasim Akram, Zulfi Bukhari, Ijaz Rehman send defamation notice to Reham in London

LONDON: Reham Khan’s former husband Ijaz Rehman, close aide of Imran Khan Zulfiqar Bukhari, former skipper Pakistan cricket team Wasim Akram and Pakistani origin British woman have sent a defamation notice to former wife of Imran Khan over malicious content in her upcoming book.The defamation notice has been served to Reham through a London-based law firm.The officials of the law firm told Geo News that the legal notice was served to Reham on the request of Zulfi Bukhari.In the legal notice, the law firm states that the manuscript of Reham Khan’s upcoming autobiography contains malicious and misleading information regarding its said clients which has hurt them and damaged their repute.The legal notice, sent on her email address, further says Reham should take back all her misleading and false allegations.However, it was unclear whether Reham has received the email yet or not.Legal Notice to Hamza Ali AbbasiMeanwhile, Reham Khan has served legal notice to Hamza Ali Abbasi, saying Abbasi has made propaganda against her.The notice further says Hamza Abbasi had alleged taking £100,000 from Shahbaz Sharif besides contacting with Ahsan Iqbal. She has demanded unconditional apology from Hamza over media or else she would file a defamation suit of Rs5 billion against him.Reham is making headlines again after the manuscript of her book was leaked online, angering PTI.

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President Mamnoon to meet Chinese counterpart Xi Jinping to boost ties

BEIJING: Within a period of two months, another high-level meeting is set to be held with Chinese President Xi Jinping to boost Pakistan China ties.President of Pakistan Mamnoon Hussain will meet President of China Xi Jinping to boost our relations, said Masood Khalid Pakistan ambassador to China.On April 10 Chinese President met with Pakistani formal Prime Minister Shahid Khanqan Abbasi during Boao forum.“Pakistan and China will sit together at the highest level and undertake to bilateral cooperation especially in the contest of China Pakistan Economic (CPEC) which is making smooth progress, but we have other areas of cooperation which are coming under CPEC, which would be discussed during the meeting” he added.The upcoming 18th Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) summit will be held from 9-10 June in Qingdao Shandong province of China, Mamnoon Hussain would lead the Pakistani delegation.President of Pakistan will deliver the keynote speech during summit where he will define and outline Pakistan’s perspective on regional an international development and what kind of role Pakistan can play said, Masood Khalid.Masood Khalid further said “The role of SCO and its common objectives for better understanding and goodwill between the people of SCO member states through better connectively, economic and trade road and transportations and communication linkages, these are important objectives which would be discussed during summit”According to Ambassador, President of Pakistan is also expected to hold the bilateral meeting with other leaders of SCO member states, which we have an opportunity to review our relationship with SCO member states.Masood stated that SCO is taking in that place which we have extremely close and friendly tie. This is the first-time head of state-level summit which Pakistan is attending as a full member state of SCO, Pakistan and India were acknowledged as full members of the SCO at last year in Astana summit.“The Shanghai Cooperation Organization has made remarkable achievements in the past” he added.SCO was founded in Shanghai on June 15, 2001, is composed of China, Russia, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Uzbekistan. It also has Afghanistan, Iran, and Mongolia as its observer states whereas Belarus, Turkey, and Sri Lanka as dialogue partners.

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Khadija Siddiqi stabbing convict acquitted

ISLAMABAD: Lahore High Court on Monday acquitted a man accused of stabbing his female classmate 24 times. The convict Shah Hussain had been sentenced to five years in jail by a trial court on charges of stabbing Khadija Siddiqui.The Lahore High Court heard his appeal against the conviction on May 25 and reserved the verdict. According to Khadija Siddiqi, the court announced the verdict today and acquitted Shah Hussain. “Inna lilahi wa ina ilahi rajioon! Justice butchered. Shah hussain acquitted!,” Ms Siddiqi tweeted. Khadija had received the multiple stabbings in 2016 after she went to pick her sister up from school. The assailant had left her in a pool of blood in the middle of the road before fleeing.

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Imran lacks qualification to stand in elections: Reham

LONDON: PTI chairman Imran Khan doesn’t meet the legal requirements to stand in elections under Article 62 and 63 of the Constitution as he had hidden his marriage for two months, Reham Khan alleged.Reham, ex-spot of Khan, is making headlines again after the manuscript of her book was leaked online, angering PTI.PTI spokesperson and celebrities supporting Khan’s party took to Twitter to accuse Reham Khan of being part of a PML-N's agenda ahead of the elections. Reham also took a jibe at Imran Khan over controversy surrounding the nominations of caretaker chief minister for Punjab. “How can a person run a country if he cannot give a name for the caretaker chief minister,” she remarked. The former BBC weather presenter denied PTI’s allegations that she had met Maryam Nawaz."The accusation of receiving money from Shehbaz is incorrect, I never met him or Maryam," she said, threatening to take the accusers to court.The former TV host appealed to Chief Justice Mian Saqib Nisar to take notice of the issue.

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5 Real Ethical Dilemmas That Sound Straight Out Of Movies

By Michael Garowee,Justin Krez,Michael Battaglino,A.P. Anderson  Published: June 04th, 2018 

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4 Famous People You Never Knew Were Huge Nerds

By Mark Hill  Published: June 04th, 2018 

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Incumbency can be plus or minus for PML-N: ex-PM Shaukat Aziz

LONDON: Pakistan’s former prime minister Shaukat Aziz said that PML-N has a big foot print, but only time will tell whether incumbency can be a plus or a minus for the outgoing ruling party in the next general elections. “To me the right person would be whoever wins the vote at the ballot box. If you believe in democracy and if you believe in the responsibility and the ability of the people to express their view,” he told Sophie Shevardnadze of Russian TV.“Public is more politically conscious today than previously, as consequence to media penetration that has vastly elevated over the time. And I am confident that the electoral process will be quite transparent.”Upon being asked if the financer would want to indulge in politics again, Aziz claimed that he is a technocrat and not a politician. Touching upon the subject of the media’s significance in spreading political awareness he stated: “The press is totally free they go to all segments of society to get views and those views, the next morning are in front of you.”Elaborating further on the press’ role in shaping the federal structure, Aziz added: “It’s not a closed shop. When I was in the government I used to get through the press very open criticism, and critiques and suggestions.” Moving on to Pakistan’s vacillating relations with the United States with the withdrawal of US aid and sanctions being placed on the region, Aziz termed the relations between the two nations as “contradictory.”“Pakistan will do what is in its national interest and if it means disagreeing with a friend and some other stakeholders, if that is what national interest desires that’ll be done,” he stated.Adding further on Pakistan maintaining the alliance Aziz mentioned how the country has made several sacrifices for US in the Afghan crisis which has had a direct effect on Pakistan. “Pakistan sacrificed a lot. The reminiscence of that whole action is on Pakistan alone.”The dialogue proceeded to Pakistan’s budding alliance with China and the probable strings attached to the heavy investments being made by the Chinese government to which he stated: “As a professional coming from the financial sector I found them very professional, very understanding to our situation. So in my experience and I’m, still active, I can look you in the eye and say there is no sinister or hidden agenda either side.”

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Pakistan to retaliate if India targets civilian population: DG ISPR

RAWALPINDI: DG ISPR Maj-Gen Asif Ghafoor said that Pakistan army would be compelled to retaliate if India targeted civilian population. “DG MO has given an undertaking to his Indian counterpart about respecting the 2003 ceasefire agreement and Pakistan army is committed to uphold it. But we will give a befitting response if Indian army hits our civilian population,” Asif Ghafoor briefed media at GHQ. “India should decide how it wants to proceed. We are two nuclear powers and there is no space for war,” he said. “Our job is to respect the ceasefire agreement, we will not respond to the first bullet fired by Indian at us. But if civilians are the target, we will be forced to retaliate,” he said.“We request the Indian army and media to defuse tense situation,” he said. “Recently I had interaction with SAARC journalists including Indians. We took them to North Waziristan.”“They asked a question that a high-profile incident happens in India whenever ties are improved between Pakistan and India. I told them you have witnessed only two incidents such as Mumbai attacks while Pakistan has faced thousands of such incidents,” he said,” adding Kulbhushan Jadhav is one such example of Indian involvement in fomenting violence.India, he said, carried out more than 15, 00 ceasefire violations in 2018 alone.The DG ISPR said that there were 71 incidents of cross-border terrorism ever since Pakistan started fencing its border with Afghanistan. “There is no organized militant network, including Haqqanis, in Pakistan. We now want respectful repatriation of Afghan refugees from our country,” he added.He said that even Americans realize that there was significant after military operations in Waziristan. The DG ISPR said that Hazara community expressed its joy when LeJ commander Salman Badeni was killed in Balochistan. He said that terror incidents dropped after the killing of Salman Badeni. FATA, he said, was now a part of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and everybody should work to build it.PTM talksMaj-Gen Asif Ghafoor said that he had personally met PTM  members including Mohsin Dawar and Manzoor Ahmed. "I held a separate meeting with Mohsin Dawar and Manzoor Pashteen and then arranged their meeting with military officers to resolve their issues," he said."Dawar sent me a text and thanked me for addressing his issues. But all of a sudden, hundreds of social media accounts were created to launch anti-Pakistan propaganda," he said. "How could so many caps were made? How could foreign media start telecasting their protests live? Thankfully, local media ignored their propaganda," he said. Ghafoor said that Chief of the Army Staff had strictly advised the forces to avoid use of force against PTM's members. "We now have strong evidence to prove that PTM is being exploited by foreign elements," he said. In Wana, PTM people started anti-army slogans, he said, adding that people from peace committee asked them to stop chanting before a clash broke out between them. "Army helicopters were used to transport the injured people to hospitals. But unfortunately, they started sharing a fake photograph of some girl being shot.  There was no such casualty in Wana.""It doesn't affect us if you make false claims on social media. The people of Pakistan greatly respect armed forces because of the sacrifices they have given in the war against terrorism."He said that "our focus is on the job and we should not deviate from it."Pakistan army is the only force which has won the war against terrorism, he said. "Whoever wears uniform be it police, army, FC, Rangers is part of us. They all are in the line of fire and they are doing it for the country."The army chief spokesman has urged critics not to undermine the country's sacrifices to build their own career.In Karachi, he said that people must reject a  politico-criminal nexus . Social media launches propagandaAsif Ghafoor said that thousands of fake accounts were set up on social media to launch a propaganda. "We need to check what to tweet and what no to. Social media is a lethal threat to young generation than the grown-ups," he said. He said that some accounts being run in the name of army or defence institutions were reported to FIA for action. "Pakistan army is a national force and we cannot afford a discord or division in the country," he added. 

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