By Jon Boone in The Guardian, Nov 18, 2015 at 05.01 GMT Islamabad: Afghan refugees who have lived in Pakistan for decades are being driven out of the country in a wave of harassment by officials, with many facing arbitrary arrests and the destruction of what little property they own, Human Rights Watch has said. Pakistan’s large population of Afghans has long lived at the margins of society, but a report by the rights group…
Posts published in “Day: November 19, 2015”
Report in The News, Nov 19, 2015 ISLAMABAD: Defence Minister, Khawaja Asif on Wednesday said no permission of any sort is required to Army Chief’s visits abroad and that his current trip to the US had been scheduled a couple of weeks in advance. Talking to media persons here, Khawaja Asif explained that Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif’s visit to US was focused on Pak-US bilateral ties and the overall situation of the region while Army…
By Shabbir Mir in The Express Tribune, November 19th, 2015 GILGIT: The Pakistan Army has trained a special high altitude force in Gilgit–Baltistan to encourage foreign tourists to visit the region. A ceremony was held on Tuesday to mark the completion of the training. G-B Chief Minister Hafeezur Rahman attended the event as a chief guest. Force Commander Major General Asim Munir was also present on the occasion. Speaking to The Express Tribune on Wednesday…
Pakistan is home to one of the largest displaced populations in the world — the Afghan refugees. They have been here for 35 years or more; many are second generation, grew up and went to school here and have never known life in Afghanistan. They are now marrying and having children and looking to their futures, which may not be in Pakistan. Pakistan at first welcomed them, difficult as it was to accommodate such a…
The writer is a lawyer and the Pakistan Researcher at Human Rights Watch “The police asked us, ‘What are you doing here? Go to your own country!’” said Farhang, 31, describing his treatment in Pakistan. “It was 1am … they put all us men in the police cars and took us to the police station … We spent 11 days in jail. Then they took us to the border and told us to cross. I…
The Paris massacre perpetrated by a jihadist band has the whole world grieving alongside the French. In tandem with the condemnations of the jihadist terror have been voices calling for a rethink of European and North American policies dealing with the refugees leaving Syria. While a Syrian passport found near the Stade de France attack site has not been conclusively linked to the attackers, it already fed the frenzy over tightening screws on the refugee…
By Noor Aftab in The News, November 19, 2015 ISLAMABAD: The top government functionary has directed the concerned authorities to ensure fast-track work on ongoing projects related to multibillion-dollar China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC) to match the pace of work being done by the Chinese government on its portion of the project, the sources told The News here on Wednesday. “At a time when various political groups have again started raising controversies about the CPEC project,…
SOUND BYTE: ‘The more Afghans trust Pakistan, the worse off we are’
By Ikram Junaidi in Dawn, November 19th, 2015 Last week, a group of journalists, academics and civil society members from Afghanistan were invited to what was informally known as a ‘Track 1.5/2’ exchange, hosted by the Centre for Research and Security Studies (CRSS). Dawn spoke to Barry Salaam, a media professional and human rights activist, who visited Islamabad for the dialogue, and asked him about the prospects for peace between the two neighbours in the…