Breaking News: 10 Foreign Tourists Shot Dead in Northern Pakistan

ISLAMABAD, Pakistan (Sun, Jun 23) – Reported by madn3wz

10 Foreign Tourists Shot Dead in  Gilgit-Baltistan region of northern Pakistan

At least ten foreign tourists were shot dead on Sunday morning by unidentified gunmen in northern Pakistan.

According to police sources; unknown armed men stormed a hotel in the Gilgit-Baltistan region of northern Pakistan at about 1 a.m. on Sunday and killed 10 foreign tourists, mostly of Chinese origin. The tourists from Ukraine and Russia are also reported among the dead.

"Unknown people entered a hotel where foreign tourists were staying last night and opened fire," Ali Sher, a senior police officer in the northern Gilgit-Baltistan province, told Reuters. "They killed 10 foreign tourists and fled."

The attackers escaped the scene while noo one has yet claimed the responsibility as the area had been cordoned off and police were hunting for the killers, local TV channel Geo news reported.

Further details to follow ….

Brave Malala Yousafzai 'Out of Danger': CMH Surgeons

PESHAWAR, Pakistan (Wed, Oct. 10) - Reported by madn3wz

Brave Malala Yousafzai 'Out of Danger': CMH Surgeons

Surgeons at CMH (Combined Military Hospital) Peshawar say that bullet has successfully been removed from the campaigning teenage schoolgirl shot by Taliban gunmen yesterday in Swat, BBC reports.

According to details; medical team successfully operated on Malala and removed the bullet lodged in her neck, local media reported on Wednesday.

The 14-year-old Malala Yousafzai was shot on her school bus with two friends in the former Taliban stronghold of Swat on Tuesday, then flown to the main northwestern city of Peshawar to be admitted to a military hospital.

Malala spent Tuesday night in ICU of CMH Peshawar, where doctors described her condition as critical, but after successful surgery she is reported as 'stable'.

The cowardly attack, in which two other girls were injured, has been widely condemned and sparked a social media firestorm. Thousands of people around the world have sent the teenage campaigner messages of support via social media sites like Facebook and Twitter.

A military officer told AFP that a team of top doctors had flown to Peshawar to assess her condition on Wednesday.

“They have a two-point agenda, to determine if Malala Yousafzai’s condition allows her to be shifted abroad for treatment or if she needs surgery here,” the officer said.

Malala won international recognition for highlighting Taliban atrocities in Swat with a blog for the BBC three years ago, when the Islamist militants led by radical cleric Maulana Fazlullah burned girls’ schools and terrorised the valley.

She was just 11 when she started her diary, two years after the Taliban took over the Swat Valley and ordered girls' schools to close. 

Pakistan reacts over Olympics visa scam exposed by 'The Sun' (Updates)

LAHORE, Pakistan (Tue, Jul 24) – Twelve(12) employees of the National Database and Regulatory Authority (NADRA) have been suspended, including General Manager Lahore region, reportedly for an alleged involvement in the UK visa scam for London 2012 Olympic games. 

Pakistan reacts over Olympics visa scam exposed by 'The Sun'

Taking a serious notice on the issue Rehman Malik, Senior Adviser to the PM on Interior, has also formed a Joint Investigation Team (JIT), headed by Director General FIA, to probe the case and register an FIR against those responsible.

The above actions were taken after a UK tabloid has unfolded a major visa scam, involving a gang of dishonest officials and politicians, which could ease the entry of ‘potential terrorists’ in UK with Pakistan’s Olympic squad as support officials. 

According to details; ‘The Sun’ reported on Monday that they have infiltrated a crime ring offering false passports, visas and access to London 2012 as bogus support staff. They have also exposed a ring of crooked Pakistani officials and travel staff plotting the fraud with the help of a well-known politician to get around strict security.

The whole story swirls around a Lahore-based politician, Abid Chaudhary, and Dream Land Travel Agency, also based in Lahore, prosecuted nine years ago for human trafficking.

The Sun reported that how their undercover agent meet Abid Chaudhary who spelled out how for around 7,000 pounds ($10,000) he could get the man a 2-month visa and send him into London 2012 as part of Pakistan’s Olympic squad. 

Meanwhile, Pakistan’s Olympic chef de mission Aqil Shah dismissed the Sun’s claims, saying, “These are baseless reports,” Shah told AFP. “This is an attempt to malign Pakistan. Even if someone gets a passport he cannot enter the Olympic Village without an Olympic accreditation card.”

Report Tags: Visa Scam, London 2012, Olympic Games, Pakistan’s Olympic Squad, Abid Chaudhary, Dream Land Travel Agency, Fake Passport scam, UK visa Scam, Aqil Shah, Olympics Terrorism, NADRA employees suspended,

End of an Era: Ghazal Legend Mehdi Hassan passes away

KARACHI, Pakistan (Wed, Jun 13) – Renowned ghazal singer of subcontinents Mehdi Hassan, also known as the Shahanshah-e-Ghazal (King of Ghazal), died today at 84. He has been under treatment for quite some time in a private hospital in Karachi and was suffering from lung, chest and urinary tract diseases.

Ghazal Legend Mehdi Hassan passes away

Mehdi Hassan's son Arif Hassan confirmed the news and added, "My father has been ill for the last 12 years but this year, his condition has deteriorated significantly and in the last one month, he was released from hospital for just one day before being admitted again."

Mehdi Hassan ruled the Pakistani music industry for years. He received a number of awards and honors, including Tamgha-e-Imtiaz (Pride of Performance) and Hilal-e-Imtiaz by the Government of Pakistan, Gorkha Dakshina Bahu by the Government of Nepal and the Saigal Award from India.

Mehdi Hassan was born into a family of traditional musicians at Luna village, Rajasthan, in 1927 before his family migrated to Pakistan after 1947. He was the 18th generation of a family of musicians hailing from the Kalawant clan.

He had very difficult times in the beginning of his career but he kept on practice passionately and blossomed to international fame once got chance on Pakistan Radio

During 1980s Hassan gradually stopped playback singing and live performances due to a severe illness. Considered one of the most successful ghazal singers of Pakistan, Mehdi Hasasn was trained in classical music by his father Ustad Azeem Khan and his uncle Ustad Ismail Khan who were both well respected classical musicians.

Hassan tried different styles of music and there was a time in Pakistan's film industry known as Lollywood when a production was considered incomplete without his voice.

Read detailed article about Singing Maestro of Sub-continents below:

Kubaku Phail Gyee Bat ..... - - Mehdi Hassan: The Unparalleled Master of Ghazal

Report Tags: Mehdi Hassan, Mehdi Hassan died, Mehdi Hassan passes away, King of Ghazal, Shahanshah-e-Ghazal, Legendary singer,

Is Tuesday (June 05) the ‘Heaviest Sunny Day on Earth’..??

A health warning message circulating via cellphone SMS and Facebook posting terming June 05 (Tuesday) as the ‘Heaviest Sunny Day on Earth’, which can cause skin and eye diseases. The message also warns about overheating of gasoline tanks of vehicles due to rising temperature, which can go up to 50 degree Celsius.

Is Tuesday (June 05) the ‘Heaviest Sunny Day on Earth’..??

The message reads like below:

‘Save your family and yourself 5^th June 2012…the worldz heaviest sunny day on earth..please be careful with eyes and skin disease. Aware other and save lives. The Civil Defence has given notice that within the next few weeks temperature will go up to as high as 50 degree Celsius.

All employees who drive, whether company vehicle or company owned vehicles, are advised NOT to fill their gasoline tank to maximum. The high temperature can overheat your gasoline tank. This memo serves only as a reminder and precaution for everyone. Please take care and inform your friends and family.’

To find the reality of the message, continue reading below:

Beware!! It’s a Cyber World

U.S. drone attack killed at least 10 on Thursday after Dr Shakil Afridi sentenced 30-year jail term

PESHAWAR, Pakistan (Thu, May 24) – At least 10 alleged militants were killed on Thursday in yet another U.S. drone strike in North Waziristan, Pakistani intelligence officials said.

U.S. drone attack killed at least 10 on Thursday after Dr Shakil Afridi sentenced 30-year jail term

An unmanned spy aircraft fired two missiles at a compound in a village near N Waziristan, a day after a similar attack killed four suspected militants in the same region. 

Washington has been pressurizing Islamabad to ‘Do More’ to break Haqqani militant network in North Waziristan; but in the wake of weakening ties between two, once the biggest, allies against war on terror it looks more unlikely than ever.

The relations between Pakistan and U.S. hit the lowest after Pakistan closed NATO supply routes following an aggression by NATO forces on Pakistani military post on Afghan border in last November that killed 24 Pakistani troops.  

Although the U.S. has been urging Pakistan to revive NATO supply routes for Afghanistan; but there’s no improvement even after Pakistan was formally invited to NATO summit in Chicago last week. 

U.S. aggravations with Pakistan intensified on Wednesday after Pakistani authorities sentenced a doctor, named as Shakil Afridi, charged of assisting the American CIA in locating former Al Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden to 33 years in jail on charges of betrayal. 

Report Tags: Shakil Afridi, Afghanistan, Military, NATO, NATO supply routes, Osama bin laden, CIA Agent, Drone Attack, Nort Waziristan, USA, Pakistan

PTA banned Twitter in Pakistan over 'blaspemous' content

ISLAMABAD, Pakistan (Mon, May 21) – Microblogging site Twitter was blocked in Pakistan on Sunday in protest of r a competition to post caricatures of the Holy Prophet Muhammed (S.A.W).

PTA banned Twitter in Pakistan over 'blaspemous' content

Pakistan Telecommunication Authority (PTA) spokesperson Muhammad Younis Khan said, "The website has been banned by Ministry of Information Technology and the decision was conveyed to us. There was blasphemous material on Twitter." 

The reports published in English Daily Dawn said the material in question was promoting a competition on Facebook which involved posting images of the Holy Prophet.

While Facebook agreed to address concerns over the competition, Twitter had so far failed to comply with the PTA's requests to remove the content, the reports further mentioned.

Back in 2010 a Pakistani court ordered to block Facebook because of a similar kind of competition organized by an anonymous Facebook user who called on people to draw the Prophet to promote so-called "freedom of expression".

Islam firmly disallows the portrayal of any prophet as blasphemous. Muslims across the globe staged angry protests over the publication of satirical cartoons of Holy Prophet Mohammed in European newspapers four years ago.

Report Tags: Twitter, Facebook, Prophet Muhmmad, Blasphemous material on twitter, Pakistan Telecommunication Authority, PTA, Twitter blocked in Pakistan

PAF Planes Crash (Updates and Photos) – PAF confirmed the deaths and released the names of pilots killed in Nowshera crash

ISLAMABAD, Pakistan (Thu, May 17) – Pakistan Air Force (PAF) has confirmed, in a short statement following the mid-air collision and crash of two trainer aircrafts, the death of four pilots and ordered an inquiry to establish the cause of the tragedy. Another 10 people were injured on the ground due to the impact of fallen wreckage of planes.

PAF trainer planes mid-air collision and crash killed four pilots aboard

As reported earlier, two Mushshak planes, carrying four pilots, were on a routine training mission when they collided and fell on residential area near PAF Academy in Risalpur, near Nowshehra.

  

Of the four people killed, squadron leaders Syed Masood Rizvi and Zaigham Abbas were instructors and flight lieutenant Mustafa and squadron leader Moazzam were trainee pilots, whereas among the injured, three were reported to be children and one was a woman, sources said.

According to eye witnesses, the wings of both the airplanes collided with each other, setting the aircraft on fire, which caused them to crash on two houses below, destroying their roofs.

See more photos of tragic incident below:

PAF trainer planes mid-air collision and crash killed four pilots aboard

PAF trainer planes mid-air collision and crash killed four pilots aboard

PAF trainer planes mid-air collision and crash killed four pilots aboard

PAF trainer planes mid-air collision and crash killed four pilots aboard

 

Report Tags: Pakistan Air Forcem PAF, PAF plane crash, Mushshak Planes, Nowshehra City, Risalpur Academy, PAF Academy Risalpur, Plane Crash,