PTA begins additional spectrum Sale Process for better service in GB & AJK and raising funds.

Posted on by Ali Qasim

Lahore (Nut-Desk)

In an effort to raise one billion US Dollars for government, Pakistan telecommunication authority has begun the process for the sale of additional spectrum to mobile phone companies.

The citizens of Gilget Baltistan and Azad Jammu Kashmir will have better internet and call services as the new spectrum will be applicable for enhancing telephony and broadband services in Pakistan only as these frequencies will be applicable for the Azad Jammu & Kashmir (AJK) and Gilgit-Baltistan (GB).

PTA has issued the Information Memorandum (IM) to all the four mobile operators in country, offering each megahertz (MHz) in the 1,800 MHz band at $31 million and one mega hertz in 2,100 MHz band at $29m. The PTA is offering 12.8 MHz spectrum in the 1,800 MHz band and 15 MHz in 2,100 MHz band.

At the current base price the government is likely to get a minimum of $832m from the total sale of 27.8 MHz, if there is no competition among the four mobile operators.

The mobile operators will have to submit sealed bids within 35 days (mid-September). The whole process is expected to be completed in three months. The IM has also introduced an upper cap for the 1,800 MHz band on the mobile companies to restrict abuse of dominant position or giving advantage to any company with stronger financial position.

The limits on obtaining the spectrum of 1,800 MHz band has been set after taking into account each mobile company’s existing spectrum.

PTA has highlighted that Jazz will be able to bid on up to 5.2 MHz spectrum only as the company was currently using 24.8 MHz spectrum in the 1,800 MHz band while Zong will be able to bid on up to 7.4 MHz as it was currently using 22.6 MHz spectrum. Telenor and Ufone are not constrained by this spectrum cap as each of them currently holds less than 10 MHz.

SHARMEEN OBAID-CHINOY STARTS FILMING FOR ‘MS. MARVEL’.

Posted on by Ali Qasim

Lahore (Nut-Desk)

Oscar Award Winner, Pakistani Film maker Sharmeen Obaid-Chinoy has given a personal glimpse into the sets of Disney’s highly-anticipated upcoming series Ms. Marvel. 

Taking to Instagram to share a special picture of herself with a clapboard, the filmmaker said, “On the set of #MsMarvel,” leaving Marvel fanboys and fangirls excited about the upcoming show that features Marvel’s first Muslim superhero, Pakistani-American teenager Kamala Khan aka Ms Marvel.

One of the pictures includes Sharmeen Obaid-Chinoy posing with cinematographer Jules O’Loughlin, and of her director’s chair on which sits a bag that cheekily reads, “Chief Trouble Maker”.

The series, which was first announced in 2019, is expected to hit Disney+ in late 2021 and is helmed by Sharmeen along with Adil El Arbi, Bilall Fallah, and Meera Menon.

The cast includes newcomer Iman Vellani as Ms Marvel, Rish Shah, Aramis Knight, Saagar Shaikh, Nimra Bucha, Zenobia Shroff, Mohan Kapur, Matt Lintz, Yasmeen Fletcher, Laith Naki, Azher Usman, and Travina Springer among others.

James Anderson dethroned kumble to become 3rd highest wicket taker in history

Posted on by Ali Qasim

Lahore (Nut-Desk)

England’s legend fast bowler James Anderson has surpassed India’s Anil Kumble (619) to become the third-highest wicket-taker in Test cricket.

The 39-year-old Anderson achieved this milestone after dismissing KL Rahul on Day three of the first England-India Test at Trent Bridge.

With 621 wickets, the England paceman is only behind Muttiah Muralitharan (800) and Shane Warner (708) on the list of highest wicket-takers in the longest format of the game.

He finished with figures of 4/54 in the first innings, taking wickets of Cheteshwar Pujara, Virat Kohli, Rahul and Shardul Thakur.

Before the start of first Test, he had expressed the desire to play in his 40s. “I still love turning up every day at training, putting in the hard yards and being in the dressing room with the lads trying to forge a win for England. That’s all I’ve really ever bothered about and what I’ll keep trying to do.”

It must be noted Anderson has been playing Test cricket since 2003.

PM IMRAN KHAN TESTS New ELECTRONIC VOTING MACHINE (EVM).

Posted on by Ali Qasim

Lahore (Nut-Desk)

Prime Minister (PM) Imran Khan witnessed a detailed demonstration of a new locally-made electronic voting machine (EVM). Federal Minister for Science and Technology Shibli Faraz along with the officials of his ministry gave a detailed briefing to PM Imran Khan about the working of the electronic voting machine (EVM).

Shibli Faraz said there is no need for internet connectivity for the EVMs, the software used is in the machine is of international standard, he added.

On the occasion, PM Imran Khan witnessed a detailed demonstration of the EVM and also cast his vote. The premier also congratulated Shibli Faraz and his team for producing such EVMs.

Earlier in the month of June, Prime Minister Imran Khan had reiterated the incumbent government’s resolve to ensure transparency in the electoral process in the country.

The premier also instructed that the process of electoral reforms, electronic voting and voting rights for overseas Pakistanis be completed at the earliest.

Coronologue Awards Ceremony to be held on 11 August

Posted on by Ali Qasim

Lahore (Nut-Desk)

Justice (rtd) Nasira Javed Iqbal will present second “Coronologue Awards to the winners of Ajoka’s Coronologue Short Film Festival on 11th August at an online ceremony. The awards were announced by Babar Ali Foundation’s Syeda Henna Babar Ali last week. The first prize of Rs 75,000 will be awarded to Sibte Hassan for his short film “Hero” while Moizah Jilani of Karachi will get second prize of Rs 50,000 for her “Distant Relations”. The winner of the third prize is Junaid Arif for his short film “ Abbu”. Elsa Shabir(Lahore) and Mahnoor Samad (Peshawar) will get special mention.

The jury for the competition consisted of eminent showbiz personalities including film scholar Aijazz Gul, playwright Asghar Nadeem Syed, film producer Rashid Khawaja, actor Savera Nadeem and Ajoka Chairperson Zara Salman.

Ajoka Executive Director Shahid Nadeem said that Ajoka had held the second “Coronologue” after the success of last year’s Coronologue Online Theatre Festival. The objective was to encourage innovative artistic responses to the psychological, emotional, social or political impact of the unprecedented pandemic. He hoped that the encouragement will inspire the winners to focus on creative quality work and produce meaningful productions in future.

Ajoka Institute Director Nirvaan Nadeem said that Ajoka is committed to encourage the young talent and provide quality entertainment to audience with meaningful productions. The film produced during the festival carries the same spirit and will be released on Ajoka’s social media channels soon.

The awards ceremony will be held at 5 pm on Wednesday 11 August and live-streamed on Facebook.

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KPL 2021: RawalaKot Hawks defeat Mirpur Royals by 43 runs in first encounter.

Posted on by Ali Qasim

Lahore (Nut-Desk)

The first edition of much talked bout Kashmir premiere league has begun and RawalaKot Hawks have defeated the Mirpur Royals by 43 runs in the first match of the Kashmir Premier League (KPL) on Friday.

The Mirpur Royals had won the toss and put the Rawalakot Hawks to bat in the event opener. Hawks put in an excellent show by setting a 195-run target for the Royals.

Ahmed Shahzad’s batting feat was the highlight of the innings as he blitzed 69 off 42 balls followed by Bismillah Khan who scored 59 off 34 balls for the team. Captain Shahid Afridi also came up with 16 runs off five balls.Hawks have Arshad Khan as the head coach.

Amad clinched three wickets and gave out merely 20 runs, followed by Salman who targeted two Royals and gave away 35 runs. Khushdil secured one wicket.

Led by former Pakistani skipper Shoaib Malik with Inzamamul Haq as head coach, the Mirpur Royals could not chase the target. Skipper Shoaib Malik hit 74 runs off 50 balls, followed by Amad who could score 22 runs off 15 deliveries.

Hawks’ Zaman, Afridi and Asif got two wickets apiece.

The league has six franchises — Rawalakot Hawks, Kotli Lions, Mirpur Royals, Muzaffarabad Tigers, Overseas Warriors, and Bagh Stallions — who are contesting for the prestigious trophy in 18 matches till August 17.

COVID-19 on the rise. CLAIMS 95 LIVES in a single day

Posted on by Ali Qasim

Lahore (Nut-Desk)

The COVID-19 claimed 95 more lives across Pakistan in the last 24 hours, taking the death toll from the disease to 23,797, the NCOC said, adding that 4,275 people are in critical condition.

Pakistan has reported 4,720 new COVID-19 cases during the past 24 hours, ARY News reported quoting the National Command and Operation Center (NCOC) on Saturday.

The NCOC said that the country’s number of overall confirmed cases has risen to 1,063,125, including 959,491recoveries, adding that the positivity rate of infections was recorded at 8.24 per cent.

Overall 16,393,404 tests have been conducted so far to diagnose the deadly virus in Pakistan including 57,233 in the past 24 hours.

Sindh province is the most affected region of the country with 396,918 infections, followed by the Punjab province which has reported 362,557 cases.

Khyber Pakhtunkhwa remains third on the list with 147,452 cases. Islamabad, 90,093, Balochistan, 31,069, AJK, 26,086 and GB have reported 8,615 new infections, so far.

IHC CJ inquires about justification of Ban on TIKTOK.

Posted on by Ali Qasim

Lahore (Nut-Desk)

The Islamabad High Court (IHC) asked the Pakistan Telecommunication Authority (PTA) to formulate a mechanism regarding the operations of video-sharing app Tiktok in Pakistan and consult the federal government, rather than take a unilateral decision to ban the app.

“The PTA should never have banned Tiktok without consulting the federal government,” it observed, also asking the PTA: “What authority do you have to completely ban the app?”

The case, against the suspension of the app, was heard by IHC Chief Justice Athar Minhallah. Justice Minallah asked the PTA counsel to provide a reason for banning TikTok, adding that “if banning TikTok is the only solution, then Google should be banned too”.

The PTA lawyer responded by saying that the Peshawar and Sindh High Courts had issued orders to ban the app and formulate a mechanism to stop inappropriate content from circulating on the app.

At this, the chief justice asked the counsel to read out the orders of the high courts. He then pointed out that neither court had ordered that the app be completely banned in the country.

“Such videos are circulated on YouTube as well. Will you shut down YouTube too?” Justice Minallah asked. He said PTA should instead “guide people not to watch inappropriate content”.

“Apps are a means of livelihood and entertainment for people,” the chief justice added.

Justice MinaAllah said that the PTA had “misused the orders” from both courts and demanded to know if the actual orders, which pertained to developing a mechanism, had even be followed. “You were asked to develop a mechanism. Did you make one?”

The chief justice further asked why other social media apps had not then been banned based on the grounds Tiktok was banned. The hearing was adjourned till August 23.

Jannat Mirza rides dune buggy in Skardu, Video goel viral on social media

Posted on by Ali Qasim

Lahore (Nut-Desk)

Jannat Mirza will never disappoint if you are looking for fun TikToks to liven up your day. A video of Jannat has been doing the rounds. It shows her riding a dune buggy in Skardu.

“Take me back to Skardu, please,” she wrote.

Jannat’s TikToks with Umer Butt are very popular. Both have been the talk of the town since Jannat confirmed the news of their “baat pakki”. Rumours of their engagement were circulating in May but Jannat denied the reports, saying she’ll tell everyone when everything has been confirmed.

With over 16 million followers and 488 million likes, Jannat is the most popular TikToker in Pakistan.

Domestic Violence During COVID-19 Pandemic, SOC Films releases the 4th animated film.

Posted on by Ali Qasim

Lahore (Nut-Desk)

This is the fourth and final animated film from the Siyani Sahelian Series. SOC Films released the fourth and final animated film Domestic Violence During COVID-19 Pandemic from the “Siyani Sahelian” animation series, as part of the collaborative program with Idara-e-Taleem-o-Aagahi.

Launched in March 2018, Siyani Sahelian aims to tackle gender inequality for disadvantaged out of school adolescent girls (aged 9-19) in 480 towns and villages spread across the three districts of south Punjab: Muzaffargarh, Bahawalpur, and Rahim Yar Khan.

Following the rise in domestic violence cases against women in Pakistan due to COVID-19 restrictions, this fourth and final animated short film in the series produced by SOC Films attempts to deconstruct and address some of the issues arising from this disturbing trend. While the world over is dealing with the severe fallout from the COVID-19 virus, spaces outside the home are no longer as easily accessible for women as before. The main character Asghari, along with her parents, discuss ways in which women and girls can deal with potential situations of abuse that can take place, whilst highlighting the importance of carrying out joint responsibilities at home for the whole family.

The animated film Domestic Violence During COVID-19 Pandemic can be viewed at: https://youtu.be/q1-q2OgvBkQ

The fourth animated film has been scripted by Safyah Usmani with animation by Kulsum Ibrahim, editing by Nina Zehri and Meer Farhad Jamali, and voiceovers by Rabia Kiran Rajput, Mariam Rizvi and Ali Akbar.

Indeed, to-date, Siyani Sahelian has empowered 36,000+ out of school adolescent girls in South Punjab through post primary opportunities for learning gains, TVET [Technical and Vocational Education and Training], livelihoods and life skills. As part of the outreach for this collaborative program, SOC Films also produced 4 short animated films for public screenings.

Indeed, SOC Films hopes to continue to implement sustainable community engagement programs to positively impact the lives of Pakistani youth.