Seven staff at one of Pakistan’s biggest power plants have been suspended after a technical fault sparked a massive grid breakdown at the weekend, plunging the entire country into darkness. The employees at Guddu thermal power plant in Sindh province were suspended “on account of the negligence of duty”. The suspended staff included a manager and six junior employees.
Lahore, the city of gardens, once an intellectual center of the Indian subcontinent and now considered the cultural heart of Pakistan, has been included in a list of ‘52 places to love in 2021’ by the international newspaper, The New York Times. The Times asked readers to “tell us about spots that have delighted, inspired and comforted them in a dark year.”
The Hazara University located in Manshera has issued a new dress code for the students, faculty and administration staff working there. Female students and staffers have been asked to wear an abaya, scarf and shalwar kameez instead of skinny jeans, tights and t-shirts. Excessive makeup, jewels and carrying large hand bags has also been forbidden.
A viral video on social media has shocked all of Lahore, after a family shared footage of a shawarma sandwich which was served with a dead rat’s meat inside it. Saleh Saleem posted on Facebook that his 10-year-old niece was about to consume the Middle Eastern dish at a local eatery but looked on in horror after finding the meat of the rodent inside.
Pakistan Democratic Movement (PDM) leaders will be offered tea and snacks if they decide to stage a long march towards Rawalpindi, Maj Gen Babar Iftikhar, director general of the Inter-Services Public Relations (ISPR) has announced. DG ISPR’s comments were in response to Maulana Fazlur Rehman’s indication that the opposition could turn the direction of its anti-government movement towards the army leadership.
The Federal Investigation Agency (FIA) has arrested a five-member gang for hacking email accounts of Punjab Police officers to gain access to the private data of citizens and selling it on WhatsApp. The gang had a network across Pakistan for sharing private data of citizens, including hacking, purchase, and sale of call detail records (CDR), ownership details, and National Database & Registration Authority (NADRA) records.
The Pakistan Army announced the successful launch of multi-launch rocket system Fatah-1. The ISPR chief tweeted that Pakistan conducted a successful test flight of the locally developed guided multi-launch rocket system. It is capable of delivering a conventional warhead in a 140km range. The weapon system will give the Pakistan Army the capability of precision target engagement deep in enemy territory.
After a video of LUMS students partying at a resort in Malam Jaba went viral on social media, an FIR has reportedly been registered against the students and the hotel management for “spreading obscenity”. While many had enjoyed the viral clip, some social media users had said that male and female students dancing together was an un-Islamic act.
Pakistani women can now get more scholarships under a new merit and needs-based programme after the United States Congress passed a bill named after Nobel laureate Malala Yousafzai. The Malala Yousafzai Scholarship Act was passed by the House of Representatives in March last year, and the US Senate adopted it by a voice vote last Friday.
Almost 3,203 brick kilns in Punjab have been converted to the zig-zag methodology which is an energy and fuel-efficient process to produce better-quality bricks. The Ministry of Climate Change (MoCC) and the National Energy Efficiency and Conservation Authority (NEECA), in collaboration with the International Centre for Integrated Mountain Development (ICIMOD), have initiated the project.