Here’s what’s happening across the border: Two newspapers served notices for misquoting Chief Justice of Pakistan; Pakistan’s Punjab village’s men fought during WW1.
After uproar, Afridi clarifies, says ‘Kashmir belongs to Pakistan’
A day after he sparked a row, by advocating Independence for Kashmir, former Pakistani Shahid Afridi back-tracked Wednesday following flak from both India and Pakistan.
The flamboyant former cricketer Wednesday tweeted that the Indian media had “misconstrued” his statements and added that he was only calling for Kashmiris to get their rights.
My comments are being misconstrued by Indian media! I'm passionate about my country and greatly value the struggles of Kashmiris. Humanity must prevail and they should get their rights.
— Shahid Afridi (@SAfridiOfficial) November 14, 2018
His follow-up tweet appeared to address his fellow Pakistanis, up in arms over alleged remarks that Pakistan didn’t want Kashmir as the country couldn’t handle even four provinces. Kashmir is “under brutal Indian occupation,” Afridi tweeted, adding that it “belongs to Pakistan”.
My clip is incomplete & out of context as what I said before that is missing.Kashmir is unresolved dispute & under brutal Indian occupation. It must be resolved as per UN resolution. Myself along with every Pakistani support Kashmiri freedom struggle. Kashmir belongs to Pakistan.
— Shahid Afridi (@SAfridiOfficial) November 14, 2018
The former cricketer had recently suggested Independence for Kashmir while addressing students at the British Parliament. “I say that Pakistan doesn’t want Kashmir. Don’t give it to India either. Let Kashmir become a sovereign nation. At least humanity will stay alive. Don’t let the people die,” he had said. “We don’t want Kashmir. Pakistan is not able to handle its four provinces.”
He further added that it was painful to see people dying, irrespective of their religious community.
Afridi has in the past too spoken on the Kashmir issue. In April this year, he called upon the United Nations to put an end “to the bloodshed in Indian-occupied Kashmir,” The Indian Express reported.
SC issues notices to Jang, The News for ‘misreporting’ CJP Nisar
The Pakistan Supreme Court has issued notices to the Urdu daily Jang and English daily The News for allegedly misreporting remarks made by Chief Justice Mian Saqib Nisar.
According to a Dawn report, the two papers allegedly misquoted the CJP as having said that the “the current government lacked capability and planning” while hearing a suo motu case on illegal construction in Bani Gala, a residential area in Islamabad where Prime Minister Imran Khan also owns a house.
The reports by the two papers even led to television discussions, following which, Justice Nisar issued a statement denying having made the statements and adding that the two newspapers ran the wrong story.
The Supreme Court later issued an official notification: “We are surprised as the court never made such observations about the federal government. [Those] observations were made against the Capital Development Authority. This is an instance of gross misreporting.”
This Punjab village’s men fought during WW1
Over 460 soldiers from one village in Pakistan’s Punjab province fought in World War 1, British and Pakistani historians have found. The village is 150 km south of Pakistan’s federal capital Islamabad, The Express Tribune reported.
The report added that Dulmial is the ancestral home of Dr Irfan Malik, a doctor who lives in Nottingham, and who worked with the historians to unearth the village’s contribution to the Great War.
“This was a massive contribution and almost every male who was able to in the village joined the army,” Malik was quoted as saying.
According to Malik, the recruitment of the men from the village by the Britishers first started in 1914 who at that time were offering 30 pounds for enlisting. The men from the village fought in several regions, including the Western Front, Tehran and Iran, among others.
“Had I known this history as a kid I would have been more British and felt like I had more of a stake in Britain,” Dr Malik reportedly said. “We used to get abused by skinheads in the 70’s saying ‘what have you done for our country?’. Our elders knew about this history but couldn’t articulate it”.
Dulmial also boasts of a British cannon and a marble monument that were installed there ‘in recognition of services rendered by all ranks from this village’.
My house was perfectly fine, being renovated in ‘Naya Pakistan’
Ahsan Iqbal, a Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz leader, tweeted Thursday claiming that his former official residence, from when he was a minister, was being deliberately “torn down from the inside”, and being renovated even though he had left it “in a good condition”. Taking a dig at the Imran Khan government’s promises of implementing austerity measures, Iqbal indicated this was the reality of Naya Pakistan’.
The house I vacated in Ministers Enclave was in very good condition. For austerity drama PTI government Ministers, it has been torn down from inside, new tiles, new false ceiling, new chandeliers and complete overhaul at tax payers money. This is the story of Naya Pakistan.
— Ahsan Iqbal (@betterpakistan) November 14, 2018
Malala dresses up for Diwali
Maleeha Manzoor, a researcher and CEO of Social Wigwam Creatives, Wednesday tweeted a picture of Malala Yousafzai where she was seen celebrating Diwali and captioned it “I love this picture of @Malala celebrating Diwali”.
I love this picture of @Malala celebrating Diwali. Too cute! ? pic.twitter.com/b3irhN1Xpd
— Maleeha Manzoor (@MaleehaManzoor) November 14, 2018
Young Pakistani woman teaching children from grandmother’s house
Human Rights Watch, international NGO for advocating human rights, shared the story Wednesday on Twitter of a young Pakistani girl who has opened a school in her grandmother’s house in Lyari, Karachi, reported Amy Braunschweiger for the organisation.
While even today, several children in Karachi’s Lyari town roam around without access to proper education, 23-year old Shazia realising the scale of the problem opened a school at her grandmother’s home in 2014.
With just three children initially studying under her, this fact did not stop Shazia from approaching every household in the town urging parents to send their children to her school. Today, around 50 children in the age-group 6-17 are studying in her school while Shazia has also recruited two volunteers to help her out in this endeavour.
Provision of education to children in Pakistan is a an extremely poor state as 22.5 million children are still out of school and the situation is worse for girls as only 13 per cent of them cross the 9th grade, as a new report by the organisation has recently revealed.