ISLAMABAD: Once a happy hunting ground for job seekers, Pakistanis have seen work prospects in Gulf countries shrink dramatically in recent years, most prominently in war-hit countries such as Syria, Iraq, Yemen and Libya. According to figures submitted in the National Assembly recently, as many as 8.7 million Pakistanis have found work overseas between 1971 and 2015, over 84 per cent of which has been in Gulf countries. Saudi Arabia has been the most popular…
Posts published in January 2016
The writer is a graduate from a western European university. ‘Islam is a religion of peace. Therefore, the people who carry out terrorist acts, especially those targeting places of worship and academic institutions, can’t be Muslims. Such dastardly acts are the handiwork of foreign forces, which are inimical to Islam and Pakistan for being the sole Muslim nuclear power state.’ ‘The militants are the true soldiers of Islam. They’ve taken up arms with a two-fold…
In an interview aired on January 25 on BBC, Afghan President Ashraf Ghani said that the two months, March and April, were going to be crucial to the future of Afghanistan for generations to come. If the Taliban could not be brought to the negotiating table in that window, then the fighting season would get into gear, the struggle between the Taliban and the Islamic State within Afghanistan would intensify, and the fleeting chances of…
Thousands of Afghan refugees have been recruited by Iran’s Revolutionary Guards to fight alongside forces loyal to President Bashar al-Assad in Syria, it has been reported. According to reports, some of the refugees have been deployed to Syria after they were recruited through coercion. Peter Bouckaert, emergencies director at the New York-based Human Rights Watch (HRW), said “Iran has not just offered Afghan refugees and migrants incentives to fight in Syria, but several said they…
Afghan armyAt least three senior Taliban leaders were killed along with twenty five other militants in the latest counter-terrorism operations led by the Afghan National Army (ANA) forces, the Ministry of Defense (MoD) said Friday. The operations were conducted in different parts of the country during the past 24 hours, MoD said, adding that twenty others were also injured during the same operations. The Afghan armed forces also arrested 12 militants and confiscated various types…
A militant was killed and another one was injured in a failed attack on a patrol of the Afghan Intelligence – National Directorate of Security (NDS) in southern Kandahar province of Afghanistan. The incident took place around 11:00 am local time after in the provincial city of Kandahar, local officials said. Provincial police spokesman Zia Durani confirmed that the two gunmen opened fire on NDS patrol in the 3rd police district of Kandahar city. He…
The High Peace Council (HPC) on Friday said that the Taliban has shown willingness to participate in direct talks with the Afghan government. “After the efforts made by the HPC to bring the Taliban to the table of negotiations and also contact with the group members, they [the Taliban] have shown willingness to talk peace with the Afghan government,” said HPC member Shafiullah Shafi Nursitani. He said the HPC is optimistic about the results seen…
WASHINGTON: It is important to ‘enlist’ Pakistan for defeating terrorists in Afghanistan, says a senior US general nominated to head US and Nato troops in that country. A transcript released on Friday also cites Lt Gen John William Nicholson as telling the US Senate Armed Services Committee that Pakistan’s military operations in Fata were “critical to defeating insurgency”. The general appeared before the committee on Thursday for his confirmation hearing and a positive response from…
WASHINGTON: US Defence Secretary Ash Carter has warned that 2016 would be a tough fighting season in Afghanistan while his new commander called for an “enduring commitment” to the war-torn country. “Now, it’s going to be tough, there’s no question about it … we’re expecting a tough fighting season ahead,” he said. Secretary Carter’s warning, given at a Thursday afternoon news briefing at the Pentagon, came hours after the proposed new US military chief for…
the writer is a medical doctor and bubble-wrap enthusiast from Rawalpindi, who writes mostly about science and social politics One can understand why some Pakistanis might be offended by the sight of an Indian flag over a Pakistani house. And I can also understand why Indian nationalists may be offended by Umar’s arrest I’ve long protested the Indian state’s stern actions against Kashmiri activists and other citizens for hoisting the Pakistani flag or singing the…
The humps in the road that we encounter as we move around are there for our safety, designed to reduce the speed of vehicles and prevent accidents. By contrast, the bumps in the road that leads to peace between India and Pakistan are anything but helpful. The latest speed-breaker comes courtesy a joint statement by the French and Indian sides post to the visit of French President Francois Hollande to New Delhi. The statement was…