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Karachi Police gets on rollerblades to stop crime, preacher fashions idea to fund madrasas

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New Delhi: The police in Pakistan’s Karachi city have come up with a unique way to tackle cases of theft and harassment — an armed rollerblading unit.

According to a Reuters report, the 20-member unit is undergoing rigorous training wielding weapons while gliding on roller-skates.

The chief of unit, Farrukh Ali, explained that the rollerblades are to help officers catch thieves on motorcycles.

“We felt we needed to come up with an innovative approach to control street crime,” said Ali, whose unit will officially begin next month.

video of the unit, which went viral on Twitter recently, shows the officer jumping down a flight of stairs, gliding through the streets of Karachi and brandishing guns.

The report noted that concerns were raised over the footage about the officers carrying heavy weapons. Ali, however, said that to reduce the risk of bullets ricocheting, the unit will only carry handguns.

A policewoman in the unit told Reuters, “This rollerblading will really benefit us. With this training, we can reach narrow alleys very quickly where it is usually difficult to go.”

Tablighi Jamaat leader to launch clothing brand to fund madrasas 

Religious scholar Maulana Tariq Jamil, a well-known television preacher and member of the Tablighi Jamaat group, has announced that he is launching a clothing brand to fund madrasas, reports Dawn.

In a video released on social media, Jamil said that although he had been thinking about the idea of a clothing brand, it was the pandemic that ultimately triggered the move.

“I always wanted to run the madrasa without using zakat (religious almsgiving) money. But I couldn’t find enough resources for it. So, when the pandemic happened, the Almighty put this thought in my head to start a business and use that money to run the Islamic institutions,” he said.

Thus, Jami’s clothing brand MTJ was born. The Islamic scholar, however, hasn’t revealed details of the fashion route he’s chosen for the brand.

The move comes as a surprise as Jamil had triggered controversy in April last year when he had blamed “scantily dressed” women for the spread of coronavirus in Pakistan.


Also read: Pakistan wants to geotag Himalayan pink salt & Karachi Zoo’s ‘half-fox, half-woman’ star


Karachi couple cooks up car loan scam, fleeces hundreds

A couple in Karachi is being investigated by the police after they allegedly managed to swindle money from hundreds through their so-called car financing firm.

Samaa News report notes the scam started two years ago, when the couple opened up three branches of the firm Butt & Sons Pvt Ltd.

The firm would invite applications through advertisements on OLX and Facebook. Customers were offered a car of their choice at a 5 per cent interest rate, a whole lot cheaper than banks that usually charge a 11 per cent interest.

The customer would then arrive at the branch, meet the Inquiry Officer and their details were taken down. In the end, they would sign an agreement and make a down payment.

Although the agreement stated that the verification process would take 15 days to complete, “the process never moved once the down payment was made”, according to the report.

The couple reportedly swindled people to the tune of Rs 50 million (Rs 2,27,95,783 in Indian currency) through this elaborate scam.

Scenic Gwadar stadium in Balochistan hosts first-ever cricket match

The picturesque Gwadar Cricket Stadium located in the Balochistan province is likely to host a friendly match between two teams of the Pakistan Super League.

Last week, the stadium hosted its first-ever exhibition match that was organised by singer, actor and TV presenter Fakhr-e-Alam.

The match had been dedicated to Pakistan’s iconic mountaineer Muhammad Ali Sadpara, who was declared dead Thursday after going missing on a Mount K2 expedition with other mountaineers on 5 February.

Christian Turner, British High Commissioner to Pakistan, also attended the game and even presided over the coin toss.

“An honour to preside over coin toss at inaugural #CricketAtGwadar match at beautiful Gwadar stadium. @sayedzbukhari Gwadar Dolphins choses to bowl against Showbiz Sharks,” he wrote in a tweet.

Pictures of the stadium show a lush green cricket ground built along mountains with jagged edges. Last month, in a tweet, the International Cricket Council (ICC) had challenged others to find a more picturesque stadium.


Also read: Peshawar’s own Charlie Chaplin & Pakistan’s missing mountaineer could have been a ‘porter’


 

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