The actor was speaking to journalist Mehdi Hasan early on Monday morning in the aftermath of Spain’s victory when the topic of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and members of his cabinet rooting for Argentina came up. Argentine President Javier Milei, meanwhile, was quoted as saying he was the “proudest Zionist president in the world”.

Hasan said Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez had, in contrast, been an outspoken critic of Israel and had led his country to join the genocide trial against Israel in the International Court of Justice.

Bardem said the notion of the two competitors representing Israel and Palestine was right, but with the caveat that leaders don’t necessarily represent the will of their people.

“But it’s true that at this high level of encountering and conflict, it’s true that when a president is supporting so openly a person who is a war criminal like Netanyahu, then you want to really support the other team,” the actor said.

Bardem said Milei proudly supporting what the actor referred to as “a full genocide” and people like Netanyahu and Israel’s National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir associating themselves with Argentina was “not fair” to the South American country.

“I don’t think it’s fair because there are many people from Argentina that really don’t support Milei, as many people in the States that don’t support [US President Donald] Trump.”

Both Bardem and Hasan shared a laugh over visuals from the trophy presentation, where Spanish players seemed to be awkwardly waiting for President Trump to leave the stage so they could get their team picture.

“He wanted to be in the picture, but it was great how these players who were looking at him like, ‘no, we have to make the picture without you.’ And as soon as you leave, we’re taking the picture. So he had to leave. And I was very proud of that as well,” the Spaniard said of his national team.

Bardem said he was surprised to see so many people around the world support his country, but could understand why.

“I am glad that the shift is happening in the people’s reaction towards, in this case, genocide and war crimes. And I think it’s because the actions that we’ve been witnessing through all these years towards the Palestinian population are so atrocious, they are so horrible to understand or make sense of, that anybody with minimal common sense understands that this is wrong.”

The actor said that just like Milei and Trump didn’t represent their nations as a whole, “extreme leaders like Netanyahu and Ben-Gvir and all his cabinet are also not a representation of the Jewish community”.

In a collaborative effort with the charitable organisation War Child UK, Tucci posted a video saying war was “tearing little lives apart”.

“Drones aren’t lullabies. Rubble isn’t a playground. War is not a childhood,” the actor said, adding that children were “paying with their lives for wars they didn’t start”.

Tucci said the horrors of armed conflict were the “reality for millions of children around the world, from Gaza to Ukraine to Sudan”.

He urged followers to support War Child’s mission to “reach vulnerable children in some of the most dangerous places in the world with life-saving supplies and mental health first aid”.

The Devil Wears Prada star has worked with the charity since 2022 as part of an impressive record of philanthropy, especially when it comes to causes focusing on children. He has been working with UNHCR for refugee rights since 2017.

An earlier project he did with War Child in 2023 raised £60,000 for children in war-torn areas by selling specially designed t-shirts.

The organisation has been involved in a number of high-profile celebrity fundraising initiatives, especially with musicians under its in-house record label War Child Records.

Their recent charity album, HELP(2), had acts including Arooj Aftab and Olivia Rodrigo come together for their cause. It released via their store and on streaming platforms in March.

The album had 23 tracks and a special bonus recording donated by Oasis of their performance of ‘Acquiesce’ from last year. The album’s first track, ‘Opening Night’, was the first track from the Arctic Monkeys after an almost four-year hiatus following their 2022 release The Car.

India’s strategic northern border state of East Punjab is currently witnessing one such structural shift. What began as an administrative and creative dispute over the Punjabi feature film Satluj has rapidly broken past the boundaries of cinema, censorship, and artistic freedom. Within days of the film’s abrupt removal from a prominent digital platform following federal interventions under Section 69A of the IT Act citing public order risks, this has triggered a cascade of political reactions that extend far beyond the entertainment industry.

The development has systematically reopened deep-seated historical wounds, bringing competing ideological narratives directly into the mainstream discourse as the state begins its long, volatile transition towards the crucial 2027 Assembly elections.

The immediate flashpoint centers on the radical shift from creative license to legal and historical accountability. Federal Minister of State Ravneet Singh Bittu, a prominent leader of the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and the grandson of former Punjab Chief Minister Beant Singh, who was assassinated by an insurgent car bomb in 1995, has aggressively fronted the state’s counter-narrative. By directly challenging the filmmakers to produce official judicial records, authenticated findings, and verified institutional evidence to substantiate the film’s central depiction of 25,000 missing or illegally cremated individuals during the counter-insurgency era, Bittu has shifted the debate from simple censorship to strict evidentiary proof. Warning the producers of impending structural legal action for propagating unauthenticated and inflammatory claims as settled history, Bittu effectively questioned the deliberate omission of the systemic, targeted massacres of thousands of innocent civilians and minority Hindu families by militant groups during the state’s darkest years of terrorism.

This aggressive intervention has effectively shattered a fragile, three-decade-old political consensus in East Punjab, rapidly escalating into highly synchronised ground mobilisations by right-wing organisations. This escalating street mobilisation has revived severe financial and political questions regarding state accountability toward the victims of terrorism. According to Gupta, during the peak of the militancy era, over 35,000 Punjabi Hindus were systematically massacred. While the then Congress government led by Chief Minister Captain Amarinder Singh had formally approved an initial rehabilitation grant of 781 crore for the riot-affected Hindu families, successive administrations, including the subsequent Shiromani Akali Dal-BJP coalition, later Congress regimes, and the incumbent Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) government, have consistently failed to disburse the funds.

“Over 35,000 Hindus were slaughtered during the dark days of terrorism in Punjab. While the then Captain Amarinder Singh government had officially approved a package of 781 crore for these victim families, successive regimes have played cruel politics with their grief,” Gupta asserted. “Whether it was the Akali Dal, the subsequent Congress governments, or the current AAP administration, nobody fulfilled the promise. With accumulated interest, this legal relief has now swelled to 5,100 crore. We will take to the streets with our Trishul March on July 26 to force this state government to clear its multi-decadal debt to the minority community.”

The rapid institutionalisation of these historical and financial claims over the past weeks indicates that history itself is being weaponised as a primary political tool to reshape the electoral landscape before 2027. For decades after the militancy ended in the mid-1990s, the state’s mainstream political ecosystem consciously attempted to steer public discourse away from historical trauma, choosing instead to anchor electoral campaigns on secular, developmental themes such as agriculture, fiscal management, federal water disputes, unemployment, and drug abuse. The current geopolitical friction is, however, being swiftly exploited by external extremist elements seeking to internationalise the regional debate. Gurpatwant Singh Pannun, the leader of the banned overseas secessionist outfit Sikhs for Justice (SFJ), who has been designated a terrorist by the Indian government under the Unlawful Activities Prevention Act (UAPA), recently released a highly provocative digital video message timed precisely with an upcoming proposed visit by Prime Minister Narendra Modi, urging local sympathisers to display secessionist flags.

This highly volatile environment has forced East Punjab’s major political entities into distinct, heavily defensive ideological corners ahead of the upcoming polls. The regional Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD) has slammed the central restrictions on Satluj, demanding an honest confrontation with the past, yet the party faces the complex task of consolidating its core panthic Sikh religious identity without alienating broader sections of the electorate that demand social harmony. The Congress Party finds itself questioning the selective parameters of state censorship while striving to avoid being portrayed as insensitive toward the victims of past terrorism. The ruling AAP government faces the immediate administrative burden of maintaining law and order on the ground while desperately trying to ensure that these explosive identity debates and impending street marches do not completely eclipse its governance track record on health, education, and welfare. Conversely, the BJP is anchoring its strategy firmly on national security, judicial discipline, and factual accuracy, seeking to frame the discourse around verified evidence to consolidate institutional and minority votes across urban and semi-urban centers.

The primary operational risk of this communal polarisation lies in Punjab’s transformed digital information ecosystem. Unlike the information environment of the 1980s and 1990s, today’s political messaging travels instantly through encrypted chat platforms, short-video applications, and global diaspora networks. A highly charged political statement delivered in Amritsar, Moga, or Chandigarh can polarise and mobilise communities across Canada, the United Kingdom, and the United States within minutes, internationalising local domestic friction instantaneously and deploying out-of-context digital clips to cultivate mutual distrust between the Hindu and Sikh communities. This global circulation transforms what used to be localized grievances into permanent digital divides that could significantly pollute the broader electoral environment.

Ultimately, ground-level observers emphasise that East Punjab’s fundamental social fabric remains uniquely resilient against total communal polarisation. Unlike other regions where communal lines are deeply entrenched, Hindus and Sikhs in Punjab share deep familial, cultural, and commercial ties; they have collectively endured the violence of the militancy era, and their integrated social reality acts as a powerful barrier against lasting divisions. However, the current debate surrounding Satluj and the shifting demands for multi-crore compensations demonstrate that the contest is increasingly about legitimacy – who possesses the moral authority to narrate East Punjab’s complex history. If the public and political discourse completely abandons verified factual and judicial parameters in favor of short-term electoral expediency, history will cease to be a tool for collective reconciliation and instead become a fresh arena for severe political confrontation.

Originally published in Dawn, July 13th, 2026

This story was originally published in The Statesman, an ANN partner of Dawn

“Our intent was to provide a useful creative tool and to give people control over whether their public ​content could be referenced in this way,” Meta said in a statement.

“We’ve ​heard the feedback that this feature missed the mark, so ⁠it’s no longer available,” it said.

Meta, owner of Facebook and Instagram, had launched Muse ​Image on Tuesday, its first image-generation model from Meta Superintelligence Labs. The feature, ​integrated into its Meta AI chatbot, can use photos as input and lets users edit generated images directly through sketches.

The feature soon faced backlash over privacy concerns and being an ​automatic opt-in for users.

Emmy-winning actor Hannah Einbinder, known for Hacks, criticised the feature ​on Instagram, saying it had been turned on automatically and urging users to turn it ‌off.

SAG-AFTRA, the ⁠union representing actors and other media professionals, also urged members and other Instagram users on Thursday to opt out of the feature.

“Anything other than a clear and conspicuous opt-in for these types of uses of Instagram users’ images ​is unacceptable, and an ​utter miscalculation of ⁠public sentiment regarding the obvious dangers and harms inherent in such use,” SAG-AFTRA said.

Following Meta’s decision to remove the ​feature, SAG-AFTRA welcomed the move.

“With the dangers of nonconsensual digital ​replicas well ⁠known to all, a feature that encouraged that behaviour is unwise. We appreciate its discontinuance. It is the responsible thing to do,” a union spokesperson said.

The reversal ⁠reflects ​increasing pressure on technology companies to give users ​clear control over how their publicly shared content is used by AI features.

The tool was announced on Tuesday and has since garnered widespread condemnation for making social media an even more dangerous place.

Meta issued a statement outlining some safety protocols it has implemented when rolling out Muse Image.

“Private accounts and those belonging to users under 18 are automatically excluded and adult users with public accounts can opt out with just a couple clicks. We will take action against any content that violates our Community Standards,” the Los Angeles Times quoted the company as saying.

Muse Image has been launched on Instagram and WhatsApp so far, with plans to bring it to Facebook and Messenger soon.

How to opt-out

For anyone who doesn’t want their likeness to become part of the palette for Meta’s new AI, there is a way out. Users can choose to opt out by digging into account settings on Instagram.

The settings can be accessed by tapping the three lines on the top right of the profile screen.

From the list of sub-settings, go to “Sharing and Reuse” under “How others can interact with you”.

From there, scroll to find the options allowing people to reuse posts, reels and original audio with Meta AI and turn the permissions off.

The Screen Actors Guild - American Federation of Television and Radio Artists issued a statement decrying the development on Friday.

“Anything other than a clear and conspicuous opt-in for these types of uses of Instagram users’ images is unacceptable and an utter miscalculation of public sentiment regarding the obvious dangers and harms inherent in such use,” the union said, referring to the fact many accounts have been included in the programme without having explicitly agreed to it.

This outrage follows the misuse of other AI image generation tools on social media, like X’s Grok, which used people’s pictures to create images of them in revealing clothing at the request of other users.

The immense backlash to the AI tool digitally undressing women and children led to X restricting Grok’s image generation abilities to paid subscribers only. Later, the company geo-blocked the tool’s ability to create revealing images in places where doing so is against the law.

Mbappe’s penalty proved the difference in a bruising and ill-tempered match as France won 1-0 in Philadelphia on Saturday to advance to the quarter-finals.

Celeste Amarilla wrote a long, racist tirade on X, describing Mbappe as a “colonised Cameroonian, desperately trying to pass himself off as French,” and as a “brute” who had not learned to write.

Paraguay’s players should have slapped him after the match, she added.

Mbappe, the France captain, responded with a strongly worded statement defending not only himself but also the Paraguay players.

“Madame Celeste Amarilla, you are a despicable woman and unworthy of your position. You do not represent Paraguay, that country which has sweated passion and honour throughout the competition,” he wrote.

“Through your recklessness and your brazen racism, the entire world has already forgotten the journey and the historic effort that your players accomplished during this World Cup, making way for an incompetent woman who gives the worst possible image of her country. I will never allow people like her the freedom to spread their hatred and racism across the world.”

Criminal complaint

The French Football Federation (FFF) escalated the matter, announcing plans to file a criminal complaint, describing her remarks as “utterly abhorrent and unacceptable”.

“These remarks are criminal and reprehensible. They must be prosecuted here as elsewhere. The FFF is reporting the matter to the public prosecutor’s office with a view to legal proceedings,” it said.

“These remarks bring shame upon those who make them and those who disseminate them. The players of the French national team represent France; it is our country that is being insulted.”

The Paraguayan government said it “deplores and rejects the statements” made by Amarilla, saying they are “contrary to the values ​​and principles that inspire peaceful coexistence and respect for human dignity that our country promotes.”

“The statements of the aforementioned legislator correspond exclusively to the exercise of her individual responsibility as a member of the Legislative Branch and in no way represent the position of the Government of the Republic of Paraguay or the Paraguayan people,” it said in a statement.

French President Emmanuel Macron’s office said the Paraguayan president had written to him to express support and condemned the remarks.

Macron on Tuesday offered words of support for the captain. “Another goal for Kylian Mbappe. Against racism this time. All my support. When words smear, our values ​​respond: dignity, respect, fraternity,” he said in a post on X.

Basilio Nunez, the leader of the South American country’s legislature, said the comments do not represent the “genuine values” of Paraguayans.

“As President of the National Congress, I strongly reject racist, xenophobic messages and those that incite violence against any person,” Nunez said.

“The Paraguayan national team gave their all with honour and grit at the World Cup. Politics and sports should be kept separate.”

France’s assistant coach Guy Stephan said: “We haven’t spoken with Kylian yet, haven’t had the opportunity.”

“But in three words: it’s disgraceful, vile, outrageous.”

Gianni Infantino, the president of FIFA, world football’s governing body, also condemned Amarilla.

“All of football and society stand in solidarity with the France captain — we need to fight racism and defeat it all together,” Infantino wrote in a statement on Instagram.

It was a contract that gives a company the right to give birth to — and own — someone’s digital doppelgänger.

“I don’t usually make videos like this,” Tareen said, explaining that she had initially raised the matter within the Actors Collective of Pakistan (ACT), Pakistan’s actors’ association, after carefully reading her contract. Within weeks, she said, other actors received similar agreements. And here’s the scary part: some had already signed them.

“This is not just one bad contract,” she warned in the video. “It’s already becoming an industry-wide norm,” she pointed out. She should have added the words “If we don’t stop it!”

Artificial Intelligence’s role in Pakistan’s television industry remains modest — for now. But contracts granting extensive rights over actors’ digital likenesses have sparked fears that performers may be signing away control of their future selves

The reason Tareen felt the responsibility to speak publicly points to another major, widespread issue within the entertainment industry. Most actors do not read their contracts — period — forget the fine print. Those who do manage to trudge through the repetitive clauses and long-winded language often assume — quite erroneously — that paragraphs relating to AI are mere legal jargon that allow the use of one’s visage for visual effects or promotional work.

Others, who are adept in English (the de facto language of contracts) — and most aren’t — do not speak out for fear that they may lose work in an already highly competitive industry. That very fear forces some actors to sign first and ask questions later. Later, when one casually inquires and gets a wishy-washy answer, there’s little choice but to leave everything in the Almighty’s hands.

Reading between the lines

According to a copy of the agreement obtained by Icon, the clauses extend well beyond the routine use of AI-assisted editing or publicity artwork. They grant the company extensive and perpetual worldwide rights over an actor’s image, voice and likeness.

The language cagily points out that the training is for the particular drama series one is signing for, but one can infer leeway, allowing those digital replicas to be reused without seeking further approval. These rights extend across current and future media platforms and empower the company to train other models and create derivative works from the AI dataset.

And, as if that weren’t enough, for their (willing or unwilling) contributions, artists receive zero financial compensation or royalties for that, or any future shows.

One actor who declined to sign over her digital soul was Faiza Hasan. She raised her concerns directly with the production house and requested amendments. Her request was flatly denied.

So far, the agreement reviewed by Icon originates from one broadcaster: Hum Network, through Hum Network FZ LLC — the Dubai-based arm of the network. The location raises another question: if rights over an actor’s digital identity are assigned to an overseas corporate entity, what legal recourse does a performer have if those rights are later disputed or licensed elsewhere?

Under conventional contracts, an actor is paid for the days they spend on set. If additional reaction shots, continuity inserts or establishing moments are required, the performer is generally called back and compensated accordingly. While these few days of extra work do not matter to a big-name actor, for a supporting actor or a day player (an extra with lines of dialogue), it makes a world of difference. AI has the potential to alter that equation.

Hum’s side of the story

Mahesh Waswani, the Head of Productions at MD Productions, a subsidiary of Hum Network — and the go-to man when it comes to contracts and production, according to actors Icon spoke with — tells a different story.

“Everything is smooth, it’s going fine,” he said during a phone call. “There was some misunderstanding, which has been cleared up.”

Waswani said the controversy stems from an early draft that should never have reached actors. The AI used on his end, as he describes it, is mostly for editing titles and posters rather than unrestricted ownership of performers’ digital identities. He blames the sweeping clauses on a misstep by the legal department.

An “immature person”, he said, added pages of AI language that were never meant to go out. The contract, he insists, has since been fixed. Waswani promised Icon a copy of the contract they use for comparison against the old one. As of this writing, despite multiple requests, their routine contract has not arrived.

Losing livelihood to your digital self

At present, no other production house contacted by Icon appears to have introduced comparable AI clauses. Actors — who understandably do not want their names to appear in print — anonymously affirmed this. For now, AI’s most visible use in Pakistan’s television industry remains relatively modest, yet still concerning.

Production houses routinely use AI-generated content to manipulate promotional artwork, posters and marketing materials, often without seeking separate permission from performers. Most actors accept the practice, deeming it little different from using Photoshop and failing to see the bigger picture.

They are allowing someone to use their likeness to create new images, even after they have done separate photoshoots for promotional purposes.

Perhaps the widespread use of AI through free services that are embedded within social media apps has something to do with this acceptance.

Today, one can simply take their — or anyone else’s — picture and change the time of day, body weight, clothes, background or even the people in it within seconds. Those who have never met a celebrity delude themselves into a fantasy by standing next to Shah Rukh Khan or — and this happens quite often — reincarnate dead superstars in infantile videos that are fake, forgettable or offer a sense of pride or achievement. After all, they just prompted a celebrity into existence while sitting on a couch, not striving to meet one.

But, one can argue, if everyone is doing it without any checks and balances, why can’t a production company do the same? Because, in the simplest terms, livelihoods are at stake. And producers and corporations have a duty to safeguard the industry.

This debate surrounding AI was always an eventuality. Some (mostly from production houses) say it has emerged at a very bad time. But then again, when is it ever a good time? Pakistan’s television industry is always grappling with — and putting off — longstanding problems. Actors have spent years raising concerns about delayed payments and the absence of royalties. They haven’t gained an inch of success.

Today, dramas are rebroadcast, dubbed and monetised on digital platforms.

The pay-outs are handsome but — and there’s always a ‘but’ — as one producer made it very clear to this writer, the returns count for little because dramas have become increasingly expensive to make.

If that were not enough, one has noticed a genuine lack of opportunities, especially for emerging talent, as advertisers use digital characters instead of real people in commercials and print advertisements. As mentioned above: livelihoods are at stake.

Frustrations of production houses

Now, it would be unfair to present just one side of the argument because production houses have frustrations of their own.

Producers are fed up with actors’ tardiness. Most actors (especially the big names) arrive late in the afternoon, or even in the evening, after promising to be on time (as this writer has witnessed time and again). Then there are the overlapping commitments, with shoots extending beyond their allotted days.

Under conventional contracts, an actor is paid for the days they spend on set. If additional reaction shots, continuity inserts or establishing moments are required, the performer is generally called back and compensated accordingly. While these few days of extra work do not matter to a big-name actor, for a supporting actor or a day player (an extra with lines of dialogue), it makes a world of difference.

AI has the potential to alter that equation. If a production house has already acquired the contractual right to generate digital performances from an actor’s existing footage, some of those additional shoot days are no longer necessary.

That’s money saved from the producer’s perspective, and compensation lost from the artist’s point of view.

That concern sits at the heart of actor, director and producer Shamoon Abbasi’s argument.

Acting classes

According to Abbasi, the issue is not whether AI should be used — it already is, he tells Icon. Rather, the question is whether performers understand what rights they are giving away when broad AI clauses are included in a standard acting contract.

A digital likeness, once created and trained, could theoretically be reused not just to complete scenes for the drama in question but also for other dramas, shows or films.

Abbasi also points to another often-overlooked distinction: conventional contracts govern performance and AI clauses govern the data created from that performance. The two, he argues, are not the same. That distinction is precisely what Hollywood spent months negotiating.

When the Screen Actors Guild-American Federation of Television and Radio Artists (SAG-Aftra) concluded its 2023 strike, one of the central outcomes was the inclusion of guardrails around AI. The agreement requires actors’ consent before studios create or use digital replicas of performers and provides compensation when those digital replicas are employed.

The terms do not prohibit AI, but rather regulate its use. They certify that a performer’s digital likeness has value independent of the original performance.

That approach is worth noting because it mirrors the points of view of many Pakistani actors.

Very few argue that AI should be banned. In fact, most accept that the technology will quickly become part of modern production. The objections — especially those raised by Abbasi and ACT — concern permissions that provide clarity on duration, purpose, ownership and compensation.

A tangible solution?

Abbasi and Hasan believe any AI use should be governed by a separate agreement altogether. If a production intends to use digital doubles, AI-generated sequences or voice synthesis, those uses should be disclosed in advance, be limited to a specific project and be accompanied by appropriate remuneration. Actors should know precisely what is being created, how long it may be used and under what conditions.

A dedicated group within ACT has been examining the implications of AI on performers’ rights. Their objective is to establish a framework that can be applied across the industry before AI practices become standard. Among the proposals under discussion is a broader initiative designed by Abbasi, tentatively titled the Pakistani Actors Guild-Pakistani Artists Film, Television and Radio Association (PAG-Paftra).

While the body does not yet exist, the idea reflects a growing belief that Pakistan’s performers require a dedicated institution. One capable of negotiating AI standards, advising artists on emerging technologies and protecting their digital rights in the same way professional guilds and unions do internationally.

The pressing question is whether the rules governing its use will be written before or after the technology becomes commonplace. Speaking from experience, one can guess that it is bound to happen afterwards — no matter how much one wishes otherwise.

For Hasan, the issue extends beyond a single contract, she tells Icon. It is about recognising a pattern before it becomes an industry practice. She draws a comparison with the lingering, unheeded issue of royalties. By the time performers recognise the commercial value of their digital likeness, the rights may already have been lost, she fears.

But lost to whom and where? The questions are inevitable. For example: where is the data stored? Who has access to it? Can it be licensed to another company? Can it be transferred to another jurisdiction? If ownership changes hands, does the performer retain any practical control over how their likeness is used in the future?

Hasan says this was one of the principal reasons she refused to sign the contract. She was uncomfortable granting unrestricted rights over her digital likeness without knowing where that data might ultimately end up, or who might use it later.

Beyond commercial concerns, she also sees a reputational risk. If an AI-generated performance or voice is misused years from now, determining responsibility may prove considerably more difficult.

Reading the fine print

The recommendations being contemplated by the artists’ community may be incorporated into a bill by the Government of Punjab that would establish minimum standards for AI use in Pakistan’s entertainment industry.

Among its guiding principles are informed consent (ie one must obtain permission from the artist, even if one has the dataset), project-specific agreements, transparency and fair compensation. There are even murmurs that the bill might become part of federal legislation.

Anyone familiar with law and legislation can attest to how difficult that may be — especially when matters involve provincial and federal jurisdictions.

However, the bill addresses only one part of the problem.

In Hollywood, actors rarely negotiate these issues alone. Agencies routinely manage licensing, merchandising and digital rights on behalf of their performers. Pakistan has no comparable system. That leaves many actors individually negotiating highly technical contracts against organisations with considerably greater legal and commercial resources.

Maybe the industry needs to consider a different model altogether. Perhaps it can take the form of an independent agency — one dedicated exclusively to safeguarding and commercialising performers’ digital likenesses.

Such an agency — akin to an actor’s management agency but entirely transparent — could be governed by actors and legal specialists. It could license AI rights, maintain secure repositories of performers’ digital assets and negotiate standard terms with production houses. Companies would have access to the technology they require through this organisation, while performers would retain meaningful control over one of their most valuable digital assets.

It could very well be a simpler solution to a greater looming problem.

Artificial intelligence will continue to play a role in film and television production — that much is increasingly clear. However, once standards and practices are in place, AI can function as just another production tool.

Without standards, though, the industry risks repeating a familiar story — recognising the value of an artist’s rights only after they have been signed away, willingly, forcefully, through fear or simple obliviousness.

Perhaps it’s time people actually read what they sign.

Originally published in Dawn, ICON, July 5th, 2026

In a reel posted to her Instagram account on Wednesday, Kazim told her followers to take care of animals as the country faces record-breaking temperatures this summer.

In the video, she fawns over her dog Max and tells her son Hassan and a lady holding a container of water that they shouldn’t have taken him out in the heat — Max, for his part, enjoyed getting wiped down by a wet cloth.

“Jokes aside,” the host said looking into the camera, “I had a request for you all”.

She said she would deliver this request softly after receiving some flak for being too harsh with her last one.

“If you want to keep animals, then take care of them like you would yourself,” Kazim said as her son tried his hand at being a dog masseuse in the background.

She asked people to provide their pets and even strays water to drink and shade to sit under. This, she said, was treating them “like you should treat any living being”.

In her caption, she asked readers to consider how hard the intense heat must be for animals “who have no fan, no shade, no way to ask for help”.

“Kindness doesn’t always require grand gestures. Sometimes it is just remembering that we share this world with others too. Please be gentle. Please be mindful,” she wrote.

She’s not wrong; as global temperatures continue to rise, animals are suffering the result of a man-made ecological disaster and giving them a drink and shading them from the raging sun is the least we can do.

Now, with the release of a report from the UN-formed Independent International Commission of Inquiry saying Palestinian children have been deliberately targeted and killed by Israeli security forces, she has just one question for world leaders: “Where have you been?”

“Did you not see these kids as kids because of where they were born? Did you not think the 20,000 kids that were killed and the countless others under the rubble who died of starvation and other causes that would be so simple to treat,” asked a visibly upset Accurso in a video shared to her Instagram page.

She questioned whether those in positions of power realised the children of Gaza “had beating hearts like your kids”. She quoted parts of the report saying 151 children had died of starvation and mentioned “the deliberate targeting of children”, including an incident in which a breastfeeding baby was killed by quadcopter while inside a tent.

She wondered aloud what the leaders of the world had to lose by speaking up for what is right and asked how they were able to “go to sleep at night knowing you didn’t say anything”.

Accurso has been extremely vocal about the dire conditions facing children living through Israel’s barbaric war on Gaza. Her online advocacy has landed her in trouble with pro-Israel groups who have accused her of anti-semitism.

The YouTuber is a global ambassador for the Palestine Children’s Relief Fund (PCRF) and supports their activities in the United States with donations and by spending time with children the PCRF brings to the US for treatment. She’s developed a particularly strong friendship with Rahaf, a four-year-old double amputee from Gaza.

Mahnoor is the fourth Pakistani to be granted the honour and only the second Pakistani woman. Her win comes six years after the last time Pakistan won, Mahwari Justice said in a press release.

The awards, which are meant to celebrate young people’s contributions to development, are given out annually. One winner is selected from each of the five participating geographical regions and out of the five winners one is named Young Person of the Year.

As a regional winner, Mahnoor will receive a grant of £3,000 to help her organisation achieve its objectives. The Young Person of the Year — Ugandan solar-energy pioneer Shifra Ainomugisha for 2026 — will receive £5,000.

Mahnoor’s Mahwari Justice has made it a mission to spread awareness and education on menstrual issues and improve access to care for menstruating women.

The organisation was founded in 2022 in response to devastating floods and focused initially on providing feminine hygiene kits to flood-hit communities.

Since then, Mahnoor has worked on period education, developing a disability-inclusive guide on menstruation and having it translated into braille. The guide is now being produced in sign language.

She was also a strong advocate for the removal of taxes on feminine hygiene products, mobilising 10,000 signatures for the cause.

Her efforts and those of legal activists like Mahnoor Omer and Alisha Shabbir came to fruition earlier this month when taxes were withdrawn as part of the Federal Budget 2026-27.

Weinstein’s third trial in New York state court over an allegation that he raped aspiring actress Jessica Mann ended in a mistrial in May after jurors were unable to reach a unanimous verdict.

Mann accused Weinstein of raping her in a Manhattan hotel room in 2013 while Mann resisted and repeatedly said, No. Weinstein, 74, had pleaded not guilty to one count of third-degree rape and has denied assaulting anyone or having non-consensual sex.

A representative on Thursday said Weinstein was relieved by the outcome and believes the charge never should have been brought. Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg’s office said on Thursday that testifying before two grand juries and three trial juries had been an “extraordinarily taxing ordeal for Mann and that she did not wish to take the stand again”.

Bragg’s office also said it asked the court to sentence Weinstein to 20 years in prison for sexually assaulting one-time production assistant Miriam Haley. Weinstein was convicted of raping Mann and assaulting Haley at his first trial in New York in 2020, but the state’s highest court overturned the conviction after concluding that he did not get a fair trial.

Weinstein, an Oscar-winning film producer and Miramax studio co-founder, has remained behind bars since his conviction was overturned due to his conviction in another case. More than 80 women have accused Weinstein of sexual harassment or misconduct, allegations Weinstein denies.

Originally published in Dawn, June 26 , 2026

The two posted a reel on Instagram on Friday, talking about the virus and how freely available treatment can help patients and society.

In the clip, Munawar tells viewers that people infected by HIV can opt for free treatment in Pakistan. He said getting treated can bring patients to a point where the disease becomes “undetectable”.

He explained that this meant individuals who get treated can’t transmit the disease to others. “In three months, the viral load in your blood can drop to zero and a large portion of your blood can effectively be cleaned.”

Bhutto said the safest person, from a medical point of view, isn’t the one who’s never been tested, it’s the one whose viral load is suppressed.

Munawar said people stayed away from testing and treatment out of a fear of society and their ignorance. He said people often die because this fear prevents them from getting diagnosed.

“If this disease is not treated in a timely manner, a patient can die within 10 years,” the actor said.

Bhutto said, “The more you know about HIV, the safer you are.”

HIV and the stigma around the condition remain a serious problem in Pakistan, with the health ministry saying in May that nearly 20,000 patients had “gone missing” after discontinuing treatment.

The ministry said an estimated 369,000 people were living with HIV in Pakistan, while only 84,000 cases were currently registered, highlighting a significant detection gap. In 2025 alone, 14,000 new cases were reported.

The country reeled in horror in April, when an exposé from the BBC revealed severe medical malpractice in Punjab’s Taunsa which led to a surge in HIV infections among the area’s children.

At the time, Bhutto said medical malpractice “accounted for the majority of major outbreaks” and the victims were “victims are almost always children”.

“Prejudice against the disease must stop so these children can live full and happy lives,” the activist said.

Khan, who is a United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) goodwill ambassador, urged people to remember that “When one family finds safety, we all share in a more hopeful future.”

The star, while undertaking her duties with the UNHCR, said she had met Afghan refugees “who were forced to leave their homes and rebuild their lives from nothing”.

Seeking asylum is “not an abstract idea”, she said. “It is the moment everything changes for a family.”

She said there were refugee parents she had interacted with who were “working every day to give their children a future” and young people “determined to continue their education”.

Despite losing everything, she said, refugee families continued to hold onto hope.

The actor said she had “seen resilience in places where life has been incredibly hard” and how “safety can change what tomorrow looks like”.

Khan was appointed UNHCR’s Goodwill Ambassador to Pakistan in 2019, when she said she was proud to have come from a country that had a long history of hosting refugees.

She joins a handful of Pakistani celebrities who serve as goodwill ambassadors for different UN organs; Saba Qamar works with the UN agency for children while Shehzad Roy works with the Office on Drugs and Crime. Fawad Khan is the goodwill ambassador for the UN Development Programme and Hania Aamir recently joined the list last October with UN Women.

Afghan refugees who sought asylum in Iran and Pakistan have been returning to Afghanistan. According to figures from the UNHCR, over 5.5 million refugees had returned between October 2023 and February 2026.

In a reel on her Instagram account, Ansari said, “I’ve been hearing for about two months now that Somali pirates had captured our compatriots along with some Indians and Bangladeshis. These men who left their homes to work hard for their families are in dire straits.”

The actor said she had seen a few clips on the internet and thought the seamen must have been rescued by now, “Obviously, all their countries must be making efforts for their safe return, but how do we actually save their lives? Their children, their families are so worried.”

Talking about the squalid conditions the hostages are kept in, Ansari said she had seen videos of them drinking visibly unsafe water and was worried if they were able to charge their phones to maintain contact with their loved ones.

“Please, take this seriously. It’s a matter of life or death… I was under the impression this had been resolved, but then I saw a clip of this little girl who was missing her dad, my heart hurts so much [for her],” the actor said.

Ansari said these men had gone to sea to earn an honest living; they weren’t trying to break the law or immigrate illegally.

She requested the Foreign Office to “please do something for them” because it didn’t seem fair to these hard-working men and the families they left behind at home. “Maybe one of them is sick, God forbid… We don’t know” she worried.

Eleven Pakistani sailors were part of the crew of the MT Honour 25 which was hijacked by pirates off the coast of Somalia in April. Foreign office spokesperson Tahir Andrabi said that Islamabad had been in touch with the vessel’s owners and the government of Somalia to secure the crew’s release during a press briefing last week.

He recalled that the Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Ishaq Dar had been in touch with the Somali Foreign Minister Abdisalam Abdi Ali over the issue.

A statement from the Ministry of Maritime Affairs on June 8 also said they remained in touch with the foreign ministry and the embassy of Somalia to facilitate rescue efforts.

Cover photo: Fahim Siddiqi/White Star

In an Instagram story posted on Tuesday, the actor asked why people began to call for dog culling whenever they heard of a dog with rabies.

“When we don’t punish all people for the sins of any one person, we shouldn’t punish all dogs because a few carry rabies. Only people with thoughtfulness and compassion will understand this,” Farooq said.

Addressing the haters, she said she prayed for “God to soften your hearts one day”.

On Monday, the actor had put up a post from Lahore-based animal rights activist Uswa Ahmed on her story. In the video, Ahmed can be heard asking sanitation workers from the Suthra Punjab project why they had killed dogs.

They were moving a trailer full of dog corpses which sparked the activist’s reaction. The workers denied having killed them and drove away with Ahmed in pursuit.

The comments under the post were largely supportive, but some questioned the activist’s priorities for speaking up for animals. Others made fun of her for referring to strays she cares for as her “children”.

The Lahore High Court has barred authorities from culling dogs, instead directing them to use more humane methods of controlling stray animal populations as prescribed under the Punjab Animal Birth Control Policy 2021.

Despite the orders, there are reports of The dog culling in the city with guns and poison as of last month.

In his speech, the minister said the government would be withdrawing taxes placed on contraceptives and sanitary pads. The move was hailed as a win for women and an important step in providing safe and affordable menstrual care to the public.

Netizens applauded the government for taking the step which will have an immediate, positive impact for the country’s women.

One user pointed out how Pakistan was set to join a lamentably small group of countries that don’t tax menstrual hygiene products.

Others felt the whole idea of taxing such essential goods was “ridiculous”. They were happy to see the taxes go.

There was also acknowledgement of Mahnoor Omer, the women’s rights activist who filed a case in the Lahore High Court against taxing menstrual hygiene product in September. She was later recognised as one of TIME magazine’s Women of the Year for her efforts. Another petition was filed in the Sindh High Court by Karachi’s Alishba Shabbir in November.

Not everyone was convinced this was enough, especially when it came to the adoption of contraceptives in a country severely burdened by overpopulation. One user said the withdrawal of taxes wouldn’t do make to increase their acceptance in Pakistani society.

The removal of the taxes is expected to be implemented in the coming fiscal year, which starts from July 1.

In an Instagram post, the movement called Tribeca out on its “racist double standards” and “choice to continue programming complicit Israeli films during apartheid Israel’s ongoing genocide against the Palestinian people in Gaza”.

BDS said the festival had barred Russian participation in the aftermath of the country’s invasion of Ukraine but failed to maintain the same principles when it came to Israel’s invasion of Gaza and its actions in the West Bank, East Jerusalem, Lebanon, Iran and Syria.

In fact, the movement said, three Israeli films were platformed this year. One of the companies involved in these films, United King Films, was highlighted by the UN as “involved in illegal Israeli settlements in the occupied West Bank”.

The comments that started the firestorm for Tribeca came from US comedian Elon Gold and influencer Lizzy Savetsky whose interaction on the red carpet of Gold’s film went viral for all the wrong reasons.

Gold spoke to Savetsky about his film, saying it was “a really big deal” for his Israel-made film to be screening at the Tribeca Festival. He then joked that he was “only raped by two Israeli dogs”, to which Savetsky countered, “I thought they only raped Palestinians.”

The festival later issued an apology saying the remarks were “offensive and unacceptable”.

“Sexual violence and human suffering should never be mocked or minimised,” the statement read. It said the remarks “do not reflect the Tribeca Festival’s values” and the organising team regrets “the hurt they have caused”.

BDS objected to the statement not mentioning the anti-Palestinian nature of the comments and not cancelling subsequent screenings of Gold’s film. The movement said this “erasure of Palestinians” and the lack of Palestinian representation at the festival were “examples of Tribeca’s systemic anti-Palestinian racism”.

The post from BDS said film festivals were “no place for genocidal Israeli propaganda”.

“There can be no celebration of independent film, free expression or solidarity without ending complicity,” the movement said.

In a video posted on Instagram, an exhausted Hocane said that while ‘they’ say “not all women”, it is always a woman who is subjected to such cruelty and expected to walk out of it unscathed.

“It’s always a woman surviving what was meant to destroy her. It’s always a woman asked to forgive before she has even healed. It’s always a woman rebuilding herself [after suffering] from someone else’s cruelty,” the actor said.

She asked why this was something we glorified. “Why is survival a woman’s greatest achievement?”

Hocane joins a number of her industry colleagues in condemning violence against women, especially after a brutal acid attack on Dr Mahnoor Nasir in Quetta. She suffered burns on 70 per cent of her body when a man threw acid on her. The man was later killed by police while attempting to flee the city.

Saturday’s acid attack wasn’t the only case of patriarchal violence in the news last week, with people similarly horrified when a 64-year-old man admitted to killing his wife after she refused to go to bed with him. What was even more horrifying was a video of lawyers surrounding the man and telling him he wasn’t to blame.

With people defending women’s murderers and trying their absolute hardest to blame the victims for being attacked, Hocane’s questions sting hard. Why is it always women who have to carry the burdens of crimes committed against them and when will we make criminals and abusers pay instead?

Organisers said the comments, which made fun of sexual violence against Palestinians in Israel, were “offensive and unacceptable”.

“Sexual violence and human suffering should never be mocked or minimised,” the statement read. It said the remarks “do not reflect the Tribeca Festival’s values” and the organising team regrets “the hurt they have caused”.

On Saturday, Gold spoke to Savetsky about his film, saying it was “a really big deal” for his Israel-made film to be screening at the Tribeca Festival. He then joked that he was “only raped by two Israeli dogs”, to which Savetsky countered, “I thought they only raped Palestinians.”

Variety reports that while Gold was on the red carpet as a cast member, Savetsky was not part of any project at the festival this year and was instead invited as a guest of the team behind The Wedding Entertainer (The Tale of Moishe Badhan).

While the joke was obviously offensive, it was made much more so by reports of Palestinian detainees in Israeli prisons being subjected to sexual abuse and dog attacks as a method of intimidation.

According to a report from Al Jazeera, Kifaya Khraim from the Ramallah-based Women’s Centre for Legal Aid and Counselling, said she had spoken to 75 women who were detained in different stations across Gaza, the occupied West Bank and Jerusalem. All 75 said they had been sexually abused in prison.

Khraim said both Palestinian men and women were sexually abused in prison and both male and female Israeli personnel took part in the abuse and torture of detainees.

The report said Israeli prisons held more than 9,600 Palestinians as of this April.

On Saturday, a man threw acid at a female doctor at Quetta’s Civil Hospital, severely injuring her. Dr Mahnoor Nasir survived, but with 70 per cent of her body burned, according to hospital sources.

On Thursday, a 64-year-old man surrendered himself to the police in Karachi and confessed to killing his wife for refusing to engage in intercourse with him the night before.

After going through the horror of witnessing so much crime, Pakistanis on X asked how many more women have to go through this before something actually changes.

As always, there were people online blaming the victims of these tragedies, claiming there was some reason why they were attacked, as if women aren’t attacked at random. Netizens were not having it and responded by calling out the real culprits: misogyny and male entitlement.

People were understandably enraged at why, after so many acid attacks, acid was still easily available for any potential attacker to buy and even carry with him into a hospital.

While the Acid Control Crime and Prevention Act, 2011 requires sellers to record the personal details of buyers, the substance remains commercially available and is readily used for domestic applications like drain cleaning.

In the case of the man who murdered his wife, a clip of him emerged where lawyers were huddled around the killer telling him they’d represent him and he was “in the right”. Users on X were horrified, with one shocked the lawyers could do so and still face their mothers, daughters, wives and sisters at home.

Many believed men need to be taught how to take no for an answer.

And of course, for many, the main culprit is always feminism. Many netizens rolled their eyes at people at the scrutiny around feminism and what feminists stand for when women “continue to be killed, raped and burned by acid attacks”.

One user put one of the biggest struggles of being a woman in Pakistan into perspective — no woman is safe from attacks by entitled men.

A lot of people were angry.

The prevalence of violence against women in Pakistan signifies a deep, systemic rot in the way society thinks about and treats women. Until attitudes change and everyone starts seeing women as human beings worthy of respect and rights, we can’t expect anything to improve.

The question is: how many more women need to be killed and injured before society finally has had enough?

In an X post addressed to Foreign Office Spokesperson Tahir Andrabi on Thursday, the rapper said, “For the past 45 days, 11 Pakistani citizens have been stranded off the coast of Somalia completely abandoned, without help, food or essential supplies.”

He said these people weren’t just “statistics” and represented 11 Pakistani families. “These are sons, daughters, mothers, and wives waiting in agony for their breadwinners to return home safely.”

Anjum said he realises there are complications and that “these things take time”, but he said those families deserved answers beyond the “generic, occasional statement from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs claiming they are ‘in touch with Somali Maritime forces’”.

The rapper called on the Foreign Office to set up a dedicated helpline for these families to call for updates and asked the government to form a committee or assign an official of the foreign ministry whose only job is to keep up with the crisis and keep the families up to date, “providing them with the transparency and respect they are owed”.

This is not the first time Anjum has spoken up on this issue; he wrote a strongly-worded message on Instagram days after the vessel was first taken over by pirates on April 21.

In his message, the rapper said one of the captured sailors was “like a brother” to him, so this issue was personal. At the time, he claimed the government “has taken no action” for the safety of the hostage and that he was “ashamed” as a Pakistani at the government’s “non seriousness” and “under the rug policy” when it came to its citizens trapped abroad.

Separately, Andrabi spoke about the hostage situation on Thursday during the weekly Foreign Office press briefing. He said the government was in touch with the ship’s owners who were negotiating for the crew’s release and the government of Somalia — which had jurisdiction over the waters the ship was in — was kept informed.

The spokesperson said any rescue operation was made difficult by the geographic conditions and the explosive nature of the vessel’s cargo. He said Pakistan has called on the ship’s owners and the government of Somalia to push the pirates to provide food, water and essential supplies to the hostages.

Andrabi said resolving the crisis was a priority for the government, but incidents of piracy in this region have taken months to resolve in the past. He said they had received written assurances from the Somali side.

The spokesperson expressed sympathy for the families of the hostages and asked for their patience as the government tried to bring their loved ones home.

With additional reporting by Ameer Hamza

Piker, a streamer on Twitch with over three million followers, was set to speak on a panel titled How the American Left Learned to Speak the Internet. His uncle Uygur, host of the online news show The Young Turks, was set to speak on Techno-Feudalism is Here. Who Are the Lords?.

Both have been vocal in their opposition to Israel after the country launched its devastating war on Gaza in 2023, which a UN report termed a genocide. Almost 73,000 people have since been killed in the occupied territory.

Representatives of the Home Office confirmed to Variety that both of their Electronic Travel Authorisations (ETAs) were revoked “on the grounds that their presence in the UK may not be conducive to the public good”. The representatives said to refuse or cancel an ETA on these grounds is based solely on an assessment of the potential risk an individual may pose to UK society.

Uygur decried the step as “oppression” in a post on X, saying he had been “banned from the UK” when he was set to go and speak at events in London and Oxford.

Piker quoted the post in his own, saying his visa had also been revoked. The streamer said the West was “betraying liberal values for a genocidal fascist foreign government”.

SXSW also issued a statement acknowledging two of its speakers had had their travel permissions revoked, but said the event remains committed to its spirit of dialogue.

A spokesperson for the event said, “We are aware that Cenk Uygur and Hasan Piker are unable to travel to the UK following a decision by the Home Office. Decisions on entry to the UK are a matter for the Home Office and the individuals concerned. SXSW London’s role is to convene a broad range of diverse voices and perspectives. We remain focused on delivering a programme this week fostering open dialogue and exchange of ideas and featuring more than 800 speakers, artists and screenings.”

“Both the lawmaker and the actor spent quite a good time at the NCCIA Lahore office, along with their lawyers, and recorded their statements before a team of investigation officers,” an official told Dawn.

He said the actor levelled serious allegations of harassment and hurling death threats at her by the PML-N lawmaker from Chiniot, while the latter claimed that he remained friends with her for a long time and this was not a matter of harassment.

A source told Dawn that the NCCIA moved swiftly after Momina’s social media appeal went viral and drew the attention of senior PML-N leadership, especially Chief Minister Maryam Nawaz.

On Thursday, the Punjab police even provided security to Ms Momina, as confirmed by her sister.

In her online post, tagged to the PML-N leadership, Ms Momina alleged that she had been subjected to “online harassment, cyberbullying, and death threats for a long time”.

“A member of the provincial assembly belonging to the PML-N has been threatening me for an extended period. Instead of ensuring justice, attempts were allegedly made to suppress my complaints. Even individuals associated with the office of the chief minister tried to discourage me and silence the issue rather than allowing a fair investigation,” she claimed.

On Thursday Momina’s sister Advocate Rimsha Iqbal, who is fighting her case, told reporters that hurdles were being created in the marriage of Momina that was going to take place next month and even threats were hurled at her would-be husband.

“We have evidence to the claim Momina made against the MPA and presented it to the NCCIA,” she said and expressed the hope her sister would get justice.

On the other hand, counsel for MPA Chadhar, Mian Ashfaq told reporters that his client and Ms Momina had been friends since 2020-21.

“Both came close to marrying but couldn’t. Mr Chadhar provided massive social, administrative and financial benefits to Ms Momina during the last five years. We will provide the details of these benefits to the NCCIA,” he said and added that harassment allegations leveled against his client by the person who remained in relationship with him for such a long period of time did not make any sense.

Saqib Chadhar is an electable. He defeated both PML-N and PTI-backed candidates in PP-97, Chiniot, in the last polls held in 2024. After winning the seat, he joined the PML-N.

Originally published in Dawn, May 22nd, 2026

Families said they have been struggling to find new wedding dresses and many search instead for places that refurbish gowns and other kinds of clothes for their children.

Importers cite delays, high shipping costs, and restrictions on materials, ​such as the crystals encrusted into the elaborate wedding dresses, as key factors behind the shortages and ​price hikes.

Many workshops have also been damaged during the conflict.

“We try to reuse the ⁠old gowns that we have, produce them by fixing them a bit, work on them, wash them, arrange them, ​shape them,” said Rantisi, adding that work initially relied on a bicycle-powered sewing machine due to electricity shortages.

Rantisi said ​she used to buy the fabric for about 120 to 150 shekels ($41 to $51) before the war, but now pays around 500 shekels ($171).

“This has caused a big rise in the cost of bridal dresses and children’s gowns. We are living in a vicious circle from ​the war that affected us,” she added.

Cogat, the Israeli military agency that controls access to Gaza, said in ​a statement it “allows and facilitates the entry of various clothing items, in accordance with requests submitted by aid organisations and the international ‌community.”

Cogat ⁠said that it was not aware of any restrictions being imposed on materials such as crystals.

Most of Gaza’s more than 2 million people have been displaced, many now living in bombed-out homes and makeshift tents pitched on open ground, roadsides, or atop the ruins of destroyed buildings after two years of war with Israel.

High prices beyond reach for ​most in Gaza

Despite the ​hardships, some couples still find ⁠ways to celebrate, with mass weddings held in Gaza offering a rare moment of joy amid the devastation.

Still, shop workers say those celebrations come at a price.

“Before the war, ​prices were reasonable for everyone,” said Rawan Shalouf, an employee at a bridal shop.

“But ​now, given the ⁠circumstances we’re in, the price of a dress is ridiculous.”

Across Gaza, brides and families are struggling to afford even basic wedding needs. Shahed Fayez, 21, is due to marry in about four days but has been searching in vain for ⁠a ​dress.

“I don’t care about its style, what’s important is that it’s new,” ​she added.

“The cheapest dress is $1,000 or more, that’s the minimum, and all we have is less than $200. The entire dowry does not cover the ​price of a dress.”

The National Chamber of Italian Fashion (CNMI), which organises fashion week, has been under pressure from animal activists to ban fur at the shows — something fashion weeks in London, New York and various others have already done.

But the guidelines published on Friday fell short of activists’ demands, making the request not to show fur voluntary.

“The CNMI believes that the most effective approach does not consist in imposing bans… but in issuing a request not to present, during the Milan Fashion Week shows, clothing, accessories, or any other item made of fur,” the body said.

The new guidelines, to come into effect starting in September, include the chamber not using fur in its communications.

According to the chamber, materials excluded from the guidelines include shearling, vintage fur and fur obtained “by indigenous communities through traditional subsistence hunting practices”.

Most fashion names who show at Milan Fashion Week have already gone fur-free, including the Armani Group, Dolce & Gabbana and Prada, but a major holdout has been Fendi, which began as a furrier.

In her first show for the brand, new Fendi designer Maria Grazia Chiuri showed a collection that included “remodelled” furs, or pieces from old furs reworked into new designs.

In March, anti-fur activists demonstrated during the women’s shows, unfurling banners that said “Milan Fashion Week Go Fur-Free”.

Animal activists noted that CNMI’s new guidelines fell short of the flat-out bans on fur seen in other fashion weeks, but nevertheless called it progress.

“Without a fur-free policy like those in place at New York and London Fashion Weeks, there is no guarantee that cruelty will be excluded from Milan’s runways,” said Emma Hakansson of Collective Fashion Justice.­

Originally published in Dawn, May 16th, 2026

The actor posted a story on Instagram on Wednesday saying she had come across the individual at work and was able to make an excuse and get herself out of that situation because she had her wits about her.

Altaf said she had informed the production team about the incident, but it was “heartbreaking” to see the “cost of being a working woman or just a woman who’s breathing in this country”.

She said it was “exhausting” having to be vigilant at all times and lamented that “being smart” was the “primary survival mechanism” for women who didn’t have “a basic right to feel secure”.

She called on women to bring the change they wanted to see and “fight collectively” against these challenges. “We cannot afford to stay silent or let these moments slide,” the actor said.

She urged women to trust their instincts, act when needed and demand accountability whenever they are wronged.

“We shouldn’t have to live this way, but until things change, we must stand together,” she said, concluding her message.

Altaf is unfortunately not the only woman facing harassment at work in the entertainment industry. Another case came up in 2021 when actor Mehar Bano faced harassment on set by a member of the sound crew.

In what was a true display of the solidarity Altaf is talking about, the situation was resolved by Saba Qamar, who intervened on Bano’s behalf and had the crew member kicked out of the project.

Bano said this was the first time she had seen someone take such a “strong stand” against harassment for her.

There have also been attempts to bring the issue into the public discourse, most notably with the drama Case No. 9 which showed Qamar as a survivor who takes her boss to court for raping her.

The drama received critical acclaim for bringing a serious issue and its associated legal know-how into Pakistani living rooms with a sensitive yet powerful portrayal.

The actor posted a video message on Tuesday decrying recent reports of dog culling in Lahore. She asked why court orders against the practice were being disregarded and what gave authorities the right to kill innocent animals.

The actor started by acknowledging the problem of stray dogs biting people was present, but asserted this was because authorities had failed to apply the trap, neuter, vaccinate, release (TNVR) method, which she said was the humane way to control stray animal populations.

Lamenting that they had instead resorted to shooting dogs and poisoning them, Sarhadi asked why humans felt it was okay to exploit and abuse nature. “Why do they think they have a right to use living things? Donkeys are used for work, dogs are killed at will, horses have been used for work, elephants are used for pleasure. Zoos have been built where animals are not cared for properly; they are simply taken out of their habitats and imprisoned.”

Humans are the “cruelest” of all animals, the actor said. She contended that the increase in aggression among stray animals was also a result of human activities. “They’ve been abused and pelted with stones all their lives, they are just defending themselves.”

Sarhadi said she had been to areas in Pakistan where treating animals with kindness was part of the local culture and as a result humans and animals co-existed peacefully.

The actor said she couldn’t understand why TNVR protocols were not implemented, musing that perhaps it was cheaper to shoot dogs so they tried to save a penny or two.

She insisted people were cruel to dogs simply because it was within their power. “When a child is murdered by a man, a preacher, a teacher, a father or an uncle — which happens often, more so [than dogs mauling kids] — nobody goes to kill all fathers, uncles and teachers. But we will kill all the dogs. Why? Because we can!”

Sarhadi said she applauds each and every volunteer, shelter and activist fighting for the animals who couldn’t fight for themselves. She said they would have to continue their fight — as would she — if attitudes like this continued.

Reports and eye-witness accounts from Lahore say a mass culling campaign is underway, led by the Metropolitan Corporation Lahore (MCL), despite orders by the Lahore High Court to implement the Punjab Animal Birth Control Policy, 2021. The policy calls for vaccination and humane population control.

The MCL denies these reports, with Chief Metropolitan Officer Shahid Kathia telling Dawn his teams were “capturing hundreds of dogs” on a daily basis, vaccinating them and releasing them outside the city. He insisted his men were not killing any dogs.

The claims of getting dogs vaccinated were challenged by the University of Veterinary and Animal Sciences, which said no animals had been brought there for vaccination. This all comes as videos of dog carcasses being left on city streets spread on social media.

The BBC had cited concerns over partiality when declining to broadcast the documentary. It was later aired by Channel 4. The documentary, directed by Karim Shah, was nominated in the Current Affairs and Director: Factual categories. 

According to Al Jazeera, while accepting the award, executive producer Ben de Pear thanked the journalists behind the film and then addressed the BBC. “Finally, just a question for the BBC: Given you dropped our film, will you drop us from the Bafta screening later tonight?”

Journalist and presenter Ramita Navai also criticised the BBC during her speech, citing findings from the documentary’s investigation into attacks on Gaza’s healthcare system, according to the publication. “These are the findings of our investigation that the BBC paid for but refused to show,” she said. “But we refuse to be silenced and censored. We thank Channel 4 for showing this film.”

According to The Telegraph, the BBC chose not to air Navai’s speech in full and instead presented a “carefully edited version which removed her claims about Israel’s actions”. The Bafta awards are broadcast on BBC One after a delay of two hours.

The BBC’s decision not to broadcast Gaza: Doctors Under Attack came after it faced criticism for another documentary it aired narrated by a young Palestinian boy who was the son of a Hamas official. His father’s profession was not disclosed in the documentary.

Speaking backstage after their win, executive producer de Pear praised Gazan journalists Jaber Badwan and Osana Al Ashi, who contributed footage for the documentary. He said the team “woke up every day wondering if the two journalists on the ground were still alive”.

Cover: Screen grab via BBC

Despite the restrictions, many important subjects of women’s rights were highlighted, including the right to bodily autonomy — the march’s now-signature slogan “Mera jism, meri marzi (My body, my choice)” was raised loudly, proudly and frequently — freedom of movement and marital rape.

Marital rape was especially significant to the organisers this year in light of the death of Shanti, a 19-year-old newlywed from Lyari whose succumbed to her injuries in July after her husband allegedly subjected her to brutal sexual violence just two days after their wedding.

Shanti’s bari (a collection of wedding gifts given by the groom’s family) was laid out on a white sheet at the venue. It was a chilling reminder of her hopes, dreams and a life lost too soon.

Speakers at the march, including Shanti’s sister-in-law who gave a rousing speech in Sindhi, called for the cancellation of bail granted to Dr Rauf Shaikh. The doctor told the victim’s father-in-law he could treat her when staff at Karachi’s Civil Hospital said the nature of the injuries demanded police involvement.

Dr Shaikh is accused of providing improper care to Shanti, with a report from the Women’s Action Forum saying she may have survived had she been treated properly. He was granted bail by the Sindh High Court on January 26.

The right to hold the protest itself was a hot topic, with veteran artist and women’s rights activist Sheema Kermani saying nothing could stop women from exercising their “constitutional right” to protest.

Speaking to Images after the event, she described her own experience being taken into police custody outside Karachi Press Club. “Male policemen forcefully hit my car. They forced the backdoor open and sat inside.” She said this act was actually illegal as opposed to what she was arrested for — attending a pre-arranged press conference.

She described the restrictions placed on the protest as “absolutely nonsensical”. “We resisted Ziaul Haq who told us how to dress, wear this and don’t wear that, we won’t take it from a democratic government.”

The march had a number of performances, including a rap, a semi-classical kathak dance and a rendition of Faiz Ahmed Faiz’s resistance anthem ‘Hum Dekhenge’. Maha Ali Kazmi, who performed kathak on stage, said she marched — and performed — to raise awareness, not just among men, but also women who didn’t know what their rights are, who had been conditioned to accept abuse.

She said it was okay and important to talk about these things, despite society telling women not to. “It’s a criminal offence to harass somebody. Domestic violence is a criminal offence, rape is a criminal offence, marital rape is a criminal offence, but talking about our experiences is not a crime.”

One new feature was the Misogynist of the Year awards, a collection of men nominated by the public who had been chosen as representation of all that is wrong with Pakistani men. The honourees included Maulana Fazlur Rehman, writer Khalilur Rehman Qamar, actors Danish Taimoor and Ahmed Ali Butt and podcast host Sahil Adeem.

Huda, who organises marches in solidarity with the people of Palestine, said she was attending her first Aurat March this year to honour all the women before her who couldn’t demand their rights like this. “From my grandmother and my mother’s time, there’s no one who’s been speaking for these things. Everyone’s speaking at home, but nobody is taking it [out onto the] roads, because, as they say, aurton ki izzat sarkon pe nhi aani chahiye (women’s respect doesn’t belong on roads).”

Cherona, a volunteer participating in her third march this year, said she saw the annual event as an entry point for women into politics. “I think this is a great stepping stone for women to get into the political space.”

She said the movement wasn’t just about the annual protest march and its team tries to inform policymaking on women’s issues. The Aurat March is also involved in welfare activities for women in underdeveloped areas and organises free medical camps for women who need them.

She said the march was a safe space for all genders and one for men to interact with women in a way that is civil and non-threatening. She said she was thankful to the police for keeping the march safe and running smoothly.

Police presence at the march was initially scattered, with the odd policeman seen brandishing a baton at the park’s perimeter to scare away disruptive onlookers. When the procession began moving from its gathering point at Beach View Park to Seaview, female police officers escorted the march all the way. Additional mounted units joined the rally at the beach.

Cover via Shakeel Adil/White Star

End-to-end encryption (E2EE) is a method of relaying information which allows it to only be viewed by the sending and receiving devices.

The feature was touted as the ‘gold standard’ in privacy by Meta, but received opposition from law enforcement and groups advocating for the protection of children online.

Meta began rolling E2EE out on Facebook in 2019 and completed the process in 2023; it remains the default method of messaging on the platform. It was introduced as an optional feature on Instagram, which appears to be what led to its downfall as the company said it was being rolled back due to underutilisation.

Another messaging platform owned by Meta, WhatsApp, also uses E2EE as its method of data transmission. Apps like Signal, iMessage and Google Messages also use the advanced security protocol as their default setting, while Telegram has it as an optional service.

Meta did not publicly announce the termination of the feature, choosing instead to quietly update the app’s terms and conditions in March.

“End‑to‑end encrypted messaging on Instagram will no longer be supported after May 8, 2026. If you have chats affected by this change, you will see instructions on how to download any media or messages you may wish to keep,” the company said just two weeks after competitor TikTok said it had no plans to introduce the feature.

“We are really pleased,” said Rani Govender from the UK’s National Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Children to the BBC. She added E2EE “can allow perpetrators to evade detection, enabling the grooming and abuse of children to go unseen”.

Maya Thomas, a privacy campaigner, said her team saw the move as a step backwards and they were “concerned that Meta may be caving to government pressure“.