The Islamabad High Court (IHC) accepted apology of Dr Firdous Ashiq Awan, special assistant to prime minister on information and broadcasting, for scandalising judiciary and issued her a fresh contempt of court notice for making a statement regarding a pending criminal proceeding. Awan assured the court that she would be extremely careful in future and placed herself at mercy of the court.
Sheikh Rashid clearly said that that the people who want resignation from him after the Tezgam inferno must wait till Sunday as Prime Minister Imran Khan has already ordered an inquiry in the incident. He claimed that least number of railway incidents occurred in his tenure and blamed the passengers for the incident as they didn’t obey laws and kept on using canister and stoves even after being stopped by the guards on duty.
Pakistan Air Force’s (PAF) JF-17 Thunder has reaffirmed its credibility as the country’s best fighter jet by winning the Best Armament Trophy(BAT) at Inter-Squadron Armament Competition. Best pilots from different squadrons of the force took part in the competition that started on October 10 at Sonmiani firing range in Balochistan where No 11 Multi role Squadron was crowned the overall winner of the tournament.
The government has decided to counter the spread of misinformation or fake news on mainstream and social media through an e-letter according to special assistant to Prime Minister Firdous Aashiq Awan. Strict actions would be taken along with issuance of an e-letter in order to control the spread of misinformation in the country. Creation of WhatsApp-like end-to-end encrypted application for secure intercommunication between government departments was also suggested.
Pakistan International Airlines (PIA) in order to improve its performance in the aviation sector has increased its flights to the UAE, Kuwait and Saudi Arabia. Flights to Dubai and Abu Dhabi have been increased weekly whereas new flights from Islamabad, Peshawar, and Lahore to gulf countries are now scheduled, according to PIA Public Affairs Manager Athar Awan. Business community in Faisalabad would benefit from the new flights as they wont have to catch flights from Lahore or Islamabad now.
At least 13 people have died and more than 30 injured after a fire broke out on a train travelling from Karachi to Rawalpindi. A gas canister used to cook food exploded in Tezgam Express, destroying three of the train’s carriages. Death toll continues to rise, while rescue teams are working to extinguish the fire at Liaquatpur near Rahim Yar Khan.
Human rights group Amnesty International has raised concern over the highly hazardous air quality in Punjab. stating that government has failed to protect people. In a statement, Amnesty International said that the Air Quality Index in Lahore had reached 484 at 10am today, whereas the threshold for “hazardous” levels of air quality was 300, where people are advised to “avoid all physical activity outdoors”.
Pakistan, which ranks 142 on the World Press Freedom index, is among the 13 countries where journalists are murdered and their killers go free. the Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) stated the killers go free due to “unchecked corruption, ineffective institutions, and lack of political will to pursue robust investigations”. Between September 1, 2009 and August 31, 2019, at least 16 murder cases were found in Pakistan.
The government of Pakistan has issued a commemorative coin to mark the 550th birth anniversary of Guru Nanak Devji – founder of Sikh religion. The move comes after Islamabad and New Delhi last week signed an agreement to open Kartarpur Corridor for Sikh pilgrims to visit Gurdwara Kartarpur Sahib – one of Sikhism’s holiest pilgrimage sites in Narowal district of Punjab – without a visa.
Chairman Federal Board of Revenue (FBR), Syed Shabbar Zaidi announced the tax returns filed per day in 2019 have increased by 127% on average as compared to last year. Tax returns filed in 2019 till October 25 stands at 918,027, as compared to 585,209 tax returns filed in the same period last year according to Zaidi’s tweet. Personal interactions between FBR employees and businessmen will not be allowed soon.