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Here’s what is happening across the border: Actor slammed for supporting sexual violence, and US reduces defence aid to Pakistan.

Malala says terrorists a frightened by ‘a girl with a book’

Nobel laureate Malala Yousafzai and Pakistan’s prime minister-elect Imran Khan condemned the attacks on 12 under-construction girls’ schools in Gilgit-Baltistan’s Diamer district late Thursday.

Unidentified assailants burnt down these schools in what is seen as coordinated attacks.

The extremists have shown what frightens them most – a girl with a book. We must rebuild these schools immediately, get the students back into their classrooms and show the world that every girl and boy has the right to learn. https://t.co/99J7ZivafC — Malala (@Malala) August 3, 2018

Shocking & condemnable torching of schools in GB, more than half of them girls' schools.This is unacceptable & we will ensure security for schools as we are committed to focusing on education, esp girls' education which is integral to Naya Pakistan. https://t.co/lSlQDjSkeS — Imran Khan (@ImranKhanPTI) August 3, 2018

While Malala wrote on how the extremists are frightened by ‘a girl with a book’, Khan said girls’ education will be an important part in his government’s policies.

The attackers damaged school property and torched many items, reports Geo TV. No arrests have been made so far as police investigation is on. The act of arson triggered protests by local residents who sought safety for educational institutions.

Number of ballots excluded from polls increased, says report

The Free and Fair Election Network (Fafen) in Pakistan Friday said that number of rejected ballot papers from this year general elections were more than the ones excluded in 2013 polls, reports The Express Tribune.

The report published by Fafen, a network of domestic civil society organisations, said around 1.67 million ballots were not counted in the polls. The exclusion of ballot papers was observed in all provinces as well as in Islamabad Capital Territory (ICT). ICT even recorded number which had doubled since the last elections.

In Balochistan, the number had gone up by 40 per cent while it was 7 per cent in Sindh, 6.6 per cent in Punjab and 30.6 per cent in Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa including areas that were part of former Federally Administered Tribal Areas (Fata), the report said.

Imran Khan becomes the seventh most followed leader on Twitter

Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf chief and PM-elect Imran Khan is currently the seventh most followed leader on Twitter with 8.17 million followers, reports The Express Tribune.

Khan has more followers than Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, French President Emmanuel Macron and Israeli premier Benjamin Netanyahu.

Donald Trump holds the top spot with 53.5 million followers, followed by Narendra Modi (43.3 million) and Pope Francis (17.7 million).

Khan is set to take oath on 11 August.

Actor Haroon Shahid slammed for making insensitive comments

Pakistani actor Haroon Shahid’s recent tweet about journalist Gul Bukhari being slapped with a shoe has landed him in the soup, reports Dawn.

Shahid tweeted, “A couple from my side as well please. Mein maroon ga to #MeToo hojai ga! (If I hit her, it’s become a #MeToo issue)”

A couple from my side as well please. Mein maroon ga to #MeToo hojai ga! https://t.co/CvUKa7rkpG — Haroon Shahid (@HaroonsMusic) August 3, 2018

Twitter users condemned the actor’s comment and accused him of trivialising the #MeToo movement.

What on earth are you talking about? How is making a joking reference to hitting a woman about the ‘misuse’ of #MeToo? Really disappointed. — Saadia Toor (@pagalpanchi) August 3, 2018

Shahid whose debut movie, Varna, was about a rape survivor seeking justice, defended himself saying that his comment was “light-hearted” and possibly a “bad joke”. He added that he hated Gul Bukhari because she called Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf chief Imran Khan a “cocaine addict”.

Jee @mahwashajaz_ mujhay Gul Bukhari nahi pasand. Gul Bukhari Imran ko cocaine addict kahay aur pictures share karay woh aap ko tang nai Karter but iss Baat par aap ko Verna yaad aagai.

Also, relax, I can see how disturbed you are with PTI's victory. Please back off! — Haroon Shahid (@HaroonsMusic) August 3, 2018

The actor later apologised to the users.

I apologize for my bad joke. Hope you guys garner an apology from her for this. Oh wait…. was this even a joke??? 🤔 https://t.co/RUSsS1rl0t — Haroon Shahid (@HaroonsMusic) August 3, 2018

Not defending my joke. But in all honesty was in no way to undermine #MeToo — Haroon Shahid (@HaroonsMusic) August 3, 2018

Dip in the US aid to Pakistan

The US Congress passed the United States Defence Authorisation Act, 2019 earlier in the week, which states that security related aid to Pakistan will no longer be linked to the country’s counterterrorism efforts reports The Express Tribune.

According to the new bill, Pakistan will now receive $350 million instead of the previously allotted $900 million. President Donald Trump is yet to sign this bill. If approved, the amended bill will come into effect from 1 October 2018 and remain valid till 31 December 2019.

The bill mentions provision for reimbursement for border security operations for certain countries which includes Pakistan for keeping the Afghanistan border situation under control.

This fund, however, has been allotted on the conditions that it be used for counterterrorism measures against The Haqqani Network.

Although the conference report also mentions that the followings and outcomes of these operations are usually established and agreed upon in advance by both the governments.

According to Anish Goel, a former staffer of the Senate Armed Services Committee, this new amended bill frees Pakistan from having to take action against the Haqqani network and that the Pentagon can no longer pressure Pakistan to undertake counterterrorism activities.

Imran Khan’s party gets support from MQM-P

Imran Khan’s party, Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf (PTI), signed an agreement with the Muttahida Qaumi Movement-Pakistan (MQM-P) Friday for the formation of new government after the latter promised to support PTI, reports Geo TV. The agreement was reached after the party members met at Khan’s Bani Gala residence.

The PTI also announced a special federal package for Karachi with emphasis on the provision of water to residents in exchange for MQM-P’s support. An agreement on police reform implementation in Sindh was also reached. According to the nine-point memorandum of understanding signed by the two parties, a university will be established in Hyderabad, and audits will be carried out in constituencies identified by MQM-P.

“The agreement was a constitutional and democratic necessity,” MQM leader Khalid Maqbool Siddiqui was quoted as saying by the Dawn.

Be afraid of Imran Khan’s Pakistan, says opinion piece

Islamabad based journalist Mehreen Zahra-Malik, in her opinion published in the The Washington Post, explained why people should be afraid of Imran Khan’s Pakistan. She narrated how on the night of the 25 July elections, her house was allegedly broken into, and the police jokingly said it must’ve been ‘khalai makhlooq’ (extraterrestrials), which is often used to describe the army and its spy agencies in Pakistan.

Malik recalled the threatening phone calls she received from army officers after her tweet against army’s blocking of Dawn’s distribution. She also criticised Imran Khan’s support for the draconian blasphemy law and his brandishing of his critics as Indian agents. “The country Khan inherits as prime minister is practically run on scare tactics,” Malik wrote.

The opinion published Thursday has since then gone viral, with Imran Khan’s ex-wife Reham Khan also sharing it on social media.

The fear we all live with is real not imagined but my advice to the man who wants to be PM so badly would be, that HE should be afraid…very afraid. https://t.co/iuPF08EtrI — Reham Khan (@RehamKhan1) August 3, 2018

Contributors: Alind Chauhan, Hansa Kapoor, Manisha Mondal, Prateek Gupta, Soniya Agarwal, Rupanwita Bhattacharjee and Sharanya Munsi

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