The reported testing of nuclear-capable K-4 Submarine-Launched Ballistic Missiles (SLBMs) by India last month from its nuclear-powered INS Arihant has taken India closer to achieving “second-strike capability”. What this means is that India has the capability to hit back at an enemy in a situation where its land-based nuclear arsenal had been neutralised. What it actually means is that the arms race between India and Pakistan continues, because for minimal deterrence to remain credible (the…
Posts published in “Day: May 17, 2016”
Dhaka: BNP leader Aslam Chowdhury, who had drawn controversy after meeting an Israeli political leader in India early this month, was arrested by detectives in the capital yesterday. Maruf Hossain Sarder, deputy commissioner (media) of Dhaka Metropolitan Police, said members of Detective Branch (Dhaka North) arrested Aslam in Khilkhet area around 6:00pm. At the time, the BNP joint secretary general was going to Narayanganj, the official said, adding that detectives also detained his driver and…
ISLAMABAD: Accusations and counter accusations between Pakistan and Bangladesh continue in the wake of the latest hanging of a senior member of the Jamaat-e-Islami in Dhaka for alleged war crimes. Pakistan has reminded Bangladesh that according to the tripartite April 9, 1974 agreement, this was a clear violation as Pakistan, Bangladesh and India had a written agreement stating that bygones should be bygones and no one should be tried in court. The exact wording of…
DAKAR, Senegal — In a city where nightclubs and mosques coexist peacefully, Islamist violence long felt like a foreign problem — something residents watched on news clips from the Middle East or other parts of Africa. “We just didn’t worry very much about it,” said Abdullaye Diene, the deputy imam of the country’s largest mosque. “Here you can spend your nights drinking at the disco and then shake the hand of the imam.” But Senegal…
ISLAMABAD – A government lawmaker, who has been critical of military’s intervention in foreign affairs of the country, yesterday criticised its media mouthpiece for keeping mum over the execution of an Islamist leader in Bangladesh. The Parliamentary Leader of PML-N in the Senate, Mushahid Ullah Khan said that at least a tweet should have come from prolific tweeter Asim Bajwa in condemnation of hanging of Jamaat-e-Islami (JI) leader Motiur Rahman Nizami in Bangladesh. “A Sahib…
Delivering a lecture in London, Afghan President Ashraf Ghani has described the Pakistani Taliban as the “greatest threat to the region” and said his country is facing an “undeclared war” from Pakistan, which did not accept his offer of peace. His views about Pakistan are absolutely incendiary. Ghani’s is a master-stroke of bad diplomacy and terrible fact checking. He said, “Can the state of Pakistan point out a single operation against the Haqqanis or the…
WHILE yesterday’s meeting between the Afghan ambassador and the army chief resulted in the reopening of the Torkham crossing after nearly four days of closure, a more permanent solution is needed to end border concerns between Afghanistan and Pakistan. Following the Bacha Khan University attack in Charsadda in January, the security establishment here decided to try and finally tackle the Torkham problem. The legendary, and also infamous, border crossing has long been a source of…
LONDON – Afghan President Ashraf Ghani has described the Pakistani Taliban as the “greatest threat to the region” and said his country is facing an “undeclared war” from Pakistan, which did not accept his offer of peace. Delivering a lecture on the theme “Fifth Wave of Political Violence” at the Royal United Services Institute, Ghani expressed frustration at Afghanistan becoming a battleground for fighters from various countries. “Who fights in my country? Chinese, Chechens, Uzbeks,…
KABUL, Afghanistan — Taliban insurgents have cut the main highway that links the capital with northern Afghanistan and neighboring countries for the past three days, according to Afghan officials in the area. After the Taliban ambushed police forces guarding a stretch of the national Ring Road in Baghlan Province on Thursday, fighting continued through Saturday and appeared likely to last longer, according to officials in the area. The northern city of Mazar-i-Sharif was cut off,…
By BAQIR SAJJAD SYED | IBRAHIM SHINWARI ISLAMABAD / LANDI KOTAL: The Torkham border crossing was reopened on Friday after Pakistan and Afghanistan reached an understanding to reopen it. The decision to reopen the border crossing was made at a meeting between Army Chief General Raheel Sharif and Afghan Ambassador Omar Zakhilwal. The previously unscheduled meeting was arranged as old irritants in the bilateral relationship — rows over border management and terrorism concerns — resurfaced…
LANDI KOTAL: Personnel of the army’s engineering corps resumed laying barbed wire at selected locations along the Pak-Afghan border on Saturday after the Torkham border crossing was reopened on Friday evening, sources said. The sources said that Inspector General of the Frontier Corps, Maj Gen Mazhar Shaheen, visited the border crossing and observed the situation there. On the occasion, they said, Maj Gen Shaheen instructed the border guards to show courtesy to the people crossing…