WANA: Four tribesmen were shot dead when gunmen opened fire at participants of a peace jirga in the Shektoi area of South Waziristan on Thursday, officials said. No group immediately took responsibility for the attack, but residents claimed that commander Said Khan alias Sajna, who is affiliated with the outlawed Tehreek-i-Taliban Pakistan (TTP), might have carried out the attack. The residents said the Sajna Group had warned internally displaced persons (IDPs) a few days ago…
Posts published in “Day: January 8, 2016”
Attack on the Indian consulate in Mazar-e-Shari, capital of Afghanistan’s Balkh province, was planned by a foreign terrorist group which left a policeman martyred. It also left five policemen and four civilians wounded. Deputy Police Chief of Balkh province told Azadi Radio that cell phones and other evidences obtained following the attack show who planned the attack but it is not the time to share further details with media. Abdul Raza Qaderi said further information…
A follow up meeting on peace talks between the Afghan government and Taliban group would be held in Islamabad, the capital city of Pakistan next week, Chief Executive Officer Abdullah Abdullah said Thursday. CEO Abdullah appeared in a press conference after he returned to Kabul by concluding a state visit to Iran. He told reporters this afternoon ” Islamabad will be hosting a follow up meeting next week where we will have talks for peace…
Iran wants to participate in quadrilateral meet on Afghanistan Iran is keen to participate in a quadrilateral meeting on peace talks on Afghan peace process which will likely kick off in Islamabad city of Pakistan next week. Javid Faisal, spokesman to chief Executive Officer, Abdullah abdullah, told Radio Free Europe Thursday the demand by Iran to sit in quadrilateral meeting was made during CEO Abdullah’s visit to Tehran. He admitted that Tehran could play an…
The writer has been an academic teaching Chinese politics for more than 20 years, for most of that time in China. Last year saw more attention to Chinese President Xi Jinping as China’s paramount leader, including what many observers have seen as a cult of personality. The economy may eclipse politics as a concern for Beijing in 2016, but in China the two are always closely intertwined. Here are the three major political questions that…
HONG KONG — A Hong Kong-based editor, who specializes in gossipy books about Chinese leaders, vanishes. His wife files a missing persons report with the police. She abruptly withdraws it after a faxed letter surfaces, apparently in her husband’s calligraphy, stating that he is in mainland China of his own volition, helping with an investigation. Hong Kong border officials have no record of his ever leaving. The case of Lee Bo — Paul Lee is…
The start of 2016 has been rough for China. Monday saw the introduction of a new mechanism in the Chinese stock market: a circuit breaker that automatically shuts the market down if prices go into free fall. Within four days, the circuit breaker went into action twice, halting trading on two different days in an attempt to stop the decline. Though this might be worrying for the Chinese government, it is not new; a study…
The writer is a graduate of The Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy. The execution of Sheikh Nimr al-Nimr by Saudi Arabia and subsequent events, including the burning of the Saudi embassy in Tehran, have put to rest any doubts about the escalating conflict embroiling the Middle East. Saudi Arabia cut off diplomatic ties with Iran, Bahrain followed suit, and the UAE has announced a “downgrading” of relations with Iran. The US, Russia, and China,…
The ongoing diplomatic row between Saudi Arabia and Iran triggered by the execution of Sheikh Nimr al Nimr has worsened. The Pakistan government has come under fire from the opposition for having a “vague and ambiguous policy” on the matter — which is a position closely resembled by other states that have a close relationship with Saudi Arabia, including the US, the UK and most of the states of the European Union. After Saudi Arabia…
ISLAMABAD: The PTI continued to press the treasury benches on Thursday to divulge more about how the government planned to deal with the tensions between Riyadh and Tehran. It asked the government to arrange a briefing for parliamentarians with the visiting Saudi foreign minister. In between, the PTI lawmakers put the government on the back foot by successfully pointing out quorum twice. On both occasions, the house was without the required minimum number of 86…
The sick heart of Asia: By Lt-Gen (r) Raza M Khan in The Newsw, January 08, 2016 The writer is a former president of the NDU.
In Javid Nama, Allama Iqbal says: “Asia is like a human body, made of Water and Clay, And the Afghan nation in that body is like the heart!” The recently concluded Heart of Asia Conference in Islamabad and the four preceding such conferences derive their name from the verse quoted above. This verse was referred to by the prime minister of Afghanistan as well as the Afghan president in Islamabad. The declaration adopted by the…