Speaking at an interview with VOA, US Representatives Brad Sherman & Carolyn Maloney called Pakistan a nuclear-armed state with significant security challenges

US lawmakers on Wednesday asserted that Washington must battle extremism with public diplomacy in Pakistan. Speaking at an interview with Voice of America (VOA), US Representatives Brad Sherman and Carolyn Maloney called Pakistan a nuclear-armed state with significant security challenges.

“There is perhaps nowhere in the world more important for the United States to battle extremism with public diplomacy than in Pakistan, a nuclear-armed state with significant security challenges. VOA outreach in Pakistan will be far more effective with VOA communicating in the Sindhi language,” Sherman and Maloney said in a joint statement, as quoted by the American broadcaster.

While Urdu is the native language of Pakistan, only 8% of Pakistanis speak the language when compared to the surprising number of 14% who speak Sindhi- roughly some 30 million people, VOA said. "We are thrilled that, after many years of advocacy for a Voice of America (VOA) Sindhi language program, Voice of America announced that it has launched a Sindhi language webpage,” the US lawmakers added.

Pakistan Journalist Leaves Twitter Divided Over Slap

Meanwhile, a video of a Pakistan journalist on Wednesday went viral, leading the internet divided over her action in the fit of the moment. As seen in the video, a Pakistan journalist, identified as Naira Hashmi, landed a tight slap across a boy's face who was standing in front of her while she was reporting live on the celebrations of Eid-al-Adha. The video on several social media platforms amassed tens of thousands of views with netizens passing judgment on whether or not it was the right thing to do. Some claimed that a TV journalist by profession should have lost her cool whilst in front of her viewers even though the boy was allegedly misbehaving. Others contended that Hashmi took the right decision to teach the teen boy a lesson. "Violence is not the answer," one said. "This isn't violence, but a lesson," another responded.

Surprised at the outrage on Twitter, Hashmi took to the microblogging platform, saying the boy was "disturbing her and heckling" one of the families she was interviewing for her live broadcast. Enraged by his objectionable remarks, Hashmi slapped him right across the face while delivering her piece to the camera. "The boy was bullying one of the families during a live broadcast. Didn't want to give another chance to nuisance," Hashmi clarified.