Weekly News Round-Up (25th September – 1st October)
This week in the news a student from IBA was expelled for exposing on-campus sexual harassment, Ali Sethi revealed exciting news and boxer Muhammad Ali’s rare artwork was unearthed and is now being auctioned! Read on to find out more:
Ali Sethi Is In The News This Week For Being The Voice Behind The Verse-Adaptation Of Amitav Ghosh’s New Musical Audiobook, ‘Jungle Nama’
Ali Sethi surprised his fans this week with some exciting news. He revealed that he had collaborated with Amitav Ghosh on his new musical audiobook ‘Jungle Nama‘, which will be available in South Asia only through Audible and other places. His melodious voice is accompanied by gorgeous art from Salman Toor. Moreover, this was also Ali Sethi’s first time singing in Bengali!
‘Jungle Nama‘ chronicles the folktale of Bon Bibi and focuses on the Sundarbans, which according to UNESCO are ‘one of the largest remaining areas of mangroves in the world and home to significant populations of globally endangered animals‘. From the snippets we’ve heard so far, Ali Sethi switches from Hindustani to Bengali and then to Eglish flawlessly – so naturally, we can’t wait to indulge ourselves!
A Top-Scoring Scholarship Student, Silenced & Unceremoniously Escorted Off Of Campus For Trying To Do The Right Thing
This week, one of Pakistan’s premier business schools, IBA Karachi, expelled final year student Mohammad Jibrael. His crime? Trying to speak up against on-campus sexual harassment. A top-scoring scholarship student who was silenced and unceremoniously escorted off of campus for trying to do the right thing. This didn’t go well with students from IBA who took to protesting on campus and the IBA alumnus who have been steadfast in their support for Mohammad Jibrael.
Soon after IBA released a statement clarifying their stance on the matter stating, ‘The student was given multiple occasions to reconsider his actions and was counselled numerous times to reassess his actions. Having failed to do that, the Disciplinary Committee has decided to expel the student as the IBA has a zero-tolerance policy towards the violation of its rules and regulations…However, we need to emphasize, that the act of the student of whistleblowing of alleged harassment has nothing to with the Disciplinary matter which was the basis of the hearing and recommendation’.
Currently, Mohammad Jibrael is being represented by his lawyer, the activist Jibran Nasir. In conversation with Dawn News, Jibran Nasir stated that an appeal along with evidence would be sent to IBA’s Board of Governors, ‘The review decision lies with the BoG. Once the executive director has signed an order, the BoG reviews it. If the BoG continues with the order or does not respond in a week’s time, then we will move to the Sindh High Court’.
Rare Collection Of Boxer Muhammad Ali’s Artwork Up For Auction
Next week a 24-piece rare collection of boxer Muhammad Ali’s artwork will be auctioned in New York. Many of them are in cartoon style and some are signed. They predominantly reflect Muhammad Ali’s interests in boxing, religion and social justice. The works for sale come from the collection of Rodney Hilton Brown, who worked with Ali on his art. One of the paintings called “Sting Like a Bee” was made by Ali in 1978 during the filming of the historical miniseries “Freedom Road” in which he starred and it is expected to fetch $40,000 to $60,000 at the sale on the 5th of October. ‘A lot of people are excited because no one knew he was an artist and no one knew about this treasure trove of artwork. So we’re seeing a lot of interest and a lot of excitement,’ said Helen Hall, director of popular culture at Bonhams.
‘No Time To Die’ – A Grand Premiere
‘No Time To Die,’ stars Daniel Craig as the special agent James Bond, for one last time. With a few delays, the latest Bond instalment just held its mega world premiere held at London’s Royal Albert Hall on 28th September. From our favourite stars to the British Royals, everyone attended in full swing and brought the best Hollywood Glamour with them, but let’s not forget Daniel Craig’s pink suit! To find out more about the red carpet event and subsequent fan reactions click HERE.
