Here’s what’s happening across the border: Cricketer-turned-politician speaks on historic province merger bill; he has attended only 20 of the 489 parliamentary sittings since June 2013.
Ban on Bollywood
The federal government has imposed a ban on Bollywood films, during the period of Eid, dashing the hopes of those who wanted to catch Salman Khan’s Race 3.
According to Dawn, this is not a blanket ban and screening of Bollywood films can take place till two days prior to Eid and will be able resume again, two weeks after Eid.
In a notice, the ministry of information, broadcasting, national history and literary heritage claimed this was being done “in order to revive, and promote the local film industry in Pakistan.”
Federal Govt has imposed restriction on the screening of Indian movies in Pakistani cinemas on the occasion of Eid ul Fitr & Eid ul Azha. To promote local film industry, cinemas in Pakistan would not be able to screen Indian movies 2 days before & 2 weeks after the Eid days. pic.twitter.com/mkRxuL29Np
— Danyal Gilani (@DanyalGilani) May 24, 2018
Imran Khan returns to Parliament
After a two-year long hiatus, Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) chairman Imran Khan has returned to Parliament, addressing a session of the National Assembly Thursday.
Talking about a ‘historic bill’ to merge the country’s Federally Administered Tribal Areas (Fata) with Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa (K-P), Khan said the measure was necessary due to the fear of foreign entities using the tribal areas.
The minister, however, warned that its implementation would need to be done slowly and with care due to the absence of supporting infrastructure.
“It will not be easy to completely transform the region immediately. Speedy application of Pakistani laws can endanger the region — we need to implement them in phases as there is no infrastructure to back it,” he said.
Of the 489 parliamentary sittings, that have been conducted since June 2013, the minister has only attended 20.
More good news from Lyari
One of Karachi’s oldest and poorest neighbourhoods, that has been marred by gang violence has slowly been turning a new leaf.
With the quelling of gang violence by police forces locals are now able to rebuild their lives and work towards a better future.
One such resident of Lyari, Shazia Ishaq, is changing lives after setting up a classroom for children with special needs.
Using a makeshift room in Lyari Girls Cafe, Shazia has been taking in street children and orphans with learning disabilities.
“They say the pen is mightier than the sword, I want that to be true for my people…We have suffered a lot,” Ishaq told GeoTv.
Making waves in space
Under its annual development plan for the forthcoming year, the Pakistan government has decided to establish an indigenous facility for development of satellites in accordance with international space standards.
According to Emerging Pakistan, the facility will be called the Pakistan Space Centre (PSC).
It will have the capability to carry out manufacturing, testing, system level assembly, integration, launch and operations of various types of satellites.
However, that is not all. The ADP also proposes to set up a Cross-Border OFC system between China and Pakistan for enhanced international connectivity of voice and data traffic under the China Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC) project.