• January 18, 2017
• Information Technology

DAVOS: Minister of State for Information Technology and Telecommunication Anusha Rehman has stated that the transformation to ‘Digital Pakistan’ is a priority agenda with special emphasis on `Bridging Broadband Divide’ to enable socio-economic development through innovation and entrepreneurship. She said this while presenting Pakistan’s information and communications technology (ICT) experiences and successes with the ICT Ministers […]

• January 18, 2017
• Environmental Journalism

LAHORE: Temperatures are likely to increase at 0.4C per decade in agricultural plains of Punjab and Sindh which will ultimately increase water requirement for crops and heat wave conditions may retard crop growth and development. This was revealed in a recent study carried out by Pakistan Metrological Department, which further revealed that temperature in agricultural […]

• January 18, 2017
• Access to Information

ISLAMABAD: The Draft Elections Bill, 2017 is a combination of both progressive and regressive measures. This may turn out to be counterproductive and may not yield the desired results of improving the quality of elections. These observations were shared at a consultative meeting organised by the Free and Fair Election Network (Fafen). The bill, made public […]

• January 18, 2017
• Arts and Entertainment

Starring Osman Khalid Butt and Ainy Jaffri, Haissam Hussain’s romantic comedy Balu Mahi is one of the most awaited films of 2017. The film’s trailer and the recently released soundtrack are getting mixed reviews from viewers. With almost three weeks left before the film’s release (February 10, 2017), team Balu Mahi, including the cast and […]

• January 18, 2017
• Arts and Entertainment

Pakistani filmmaker, journalist and activist Sharmeen Obaid-Chinoy is forging her own path in this increasingly connected world. The two-time Academy Award winner had a terrific run last year as she was awarded the Alfred I. duPont-Columbia University Award for her award-winning documentary, A Girl in the River: The Price of Forgiveness and ended the year […]

• January 18, 2017
• Media and Governance

ISLAMABAD: The ambiguities in the Draft Elections Bill 2017 were discussed at a press conference by representatives of the Free and Fair Elections (Fafen) and civil society activists on Tuesday. The draft bill is the unification of all election laws and includes proposed improvements for the protection of the Election Commission’s authority and promotes women’s […]

• January 18, 2017
• General News

Human rights lawyer demands progress in case of a 15-year-old Christian girl who was forcibly converted and married to a Muslim man Speaking on the recent abduction and forced conversion of a Christian girl who was them married to a Muslim man, noted human rights lawyer Zia Awan said on Tuesday that under-age marriages and […]

• January 17, 2017
• Environmental Journalism

The story is the same every winter. The temperature drops, there is snow and rain in different parts of the country and the government is at a complete loss in coping with it. The problem has been particularly acute in Balochistan, where an emergency was declared after just two days of snow. Most cities in […]

• January 17, 2017
• Arts and Entertainment

In a country where eve-teasing happens to be pervasive, it takes a special someone to raise their voice against the scourge. A concert on Saturday evening saw Aslam halt his performance midway, having noticed someone harassing a girl in the front row. In a video that went viral, the singer can be seen pausing mid-song and […]

• January 17, 2017
• General News

PESHAWAR: Religious minorities in Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa have expressed serious concern over the lack of separate schools where non-Muslim students could be taught their scriptures in their religious languages. Non-Muslims – particularly the Hindus and Sikhs living in Peshawar and other districts of the K-P – have no dedicated government school where their children could be taught about […]

• January 17, 2017
• Front Page, Media and Governance

ISLAMABAD: Senior journalists, anchors, columnists and union leaders on Monday expressed serious reservation about the clauses of draft Elections Bill 2017, to be tabled in Parliament on January 19, which leads to excessive restrictions on access to information for media. They termed the respective clauses against Article 19 of the Constitution which identifies freedom of […]

• January 16, 2017
• Scholarships and Fellowships

Higher Education Commission (HEC) has prepared a roadmap for the phase-wise establishment of 32 sub-campuses with an estimated cost of Rs 5.6 billion in different parts of the country, lacking higher educational institutes, revealed HEC Executive Director Dr Arshad Ali. HEC, in accordance with the Vision 2025, “Establishment of sub-campus of Public Sector University at […]

• January 16, 2017
• Media and Society

NOWSHERA: Hectic efforts were made to put out the fire that broke out near the transmission tower of Radio Pakistan in Ajab Bagh area in the district. Assistant Sub-Inspector Murad Khan said that five fire-brigade vehicles made efforts to douse the fire after three hours as no loss of life or property was reported in […]

• January 16, 2017
• Freedom of Expression

HAD last week’s kidnappings of bloggers and social media activists happened in Balochistan, it would have been a non-event. But all five abductions happened in Punjab — and now the authorities are feeling some heat. Salman Haider — a lecturer at the Fatima Jinnah Women’s University in Rawalpindi — was intercepted while driving on Islamabad […]