At least 1,167 militants have been killed since the start of Shafaq military operations to suppress the insurgency activities of the anti-government armed militant groups, the Ministry of Interior (MoI) said. Sediq Sediqi, spokesman for the Ministry of Interior, told reporters that the operations were launched two months and are still being conducted against the armed militants. He said at least 465 militants were also wounded and at least 154 others were arrested during the…
Posts published in “Day: May 25, 2016”
By JESSICA DONATI and HABIB KHAN TOTAKHIL SHINDAND, Afghanistan—The Afghan government is giving financial and military support to a breakaway Taliban faction, according to some Afghan and U.S. coalition officials, in an effort to sow rifts within the insurgency and nudge some of its leaders toward peace talks. The effort comes as the U.S. military conducted an airstrike inside Pakistan that American officials said likely killed Taliban leader Mullah Akhtar Mansour, potentially setting the stage…
Mullah Manan, Taliban’s shadow governor for southern Helmand province, was killed in an air operation on Sunday night, police officials confirmed on Tuesday. The air strike took place in Marjeh district of the province in which Mullah Manan was first injured in the attack only to die on Monday, Provincial Police Chief Aqa Noor Kentoz said, adding that “Taliban’s financer in Marjeh was also killed in the air strike.” He said that a number of…
The sale of eight F-16s to Pakistan is facing stiff resistance in the US Congress and Senate where lawmakers lacking coherent insight recently moved resolutions seeking to block the sale. The State Department, however, correctly maintained that the sale of eight F-16s to Pakistan would assist counter-terrorism and counter-insurgency operations. In February 2016, State Department spokesperson Helaena W White stated, “Pakistan’s current F-16s have proven critical to the success of these operations to date,” and…
BEIJING—Behind closed doors in March, some of China’s most prominent economists and bankers bluntly asked the People’s Bank of China to stop fighting the financial markets and let the value of the nation’s currency fall. They got nowhere. “The primary task is to maintain stability,” said one central-bank official, according to previously undisclosed minutes of the meeting reviewed by The Wall Street Journal. The meeting left little doubt China’s top leaders have lost interest in…
BEHIND THE FIREWALL: How China tamed the Internet | This is part of a series examining the impact of China’s Great Firewall, a mechanism of Internet censorship and surveillance that affects nearly 700 million users. BEIJING — First there was the Berlin Wall. Now there is the Great Firewall of China, not a physical barrier preventing people from leaving, but a virtual one, preventing information harmful to the Communist Party from entering the country. Just…
QUETTA: At least five people were killed on Monday as unidentified men opened fire at them in Kech District’s Mand area near the Pakistan-Iran border. “A vehicle was on its way when unidentified armed men opened fire at them near a river in Mand,” Balochistan Levies official Mohammad Rizwan Baloch said while speaking to The Express Tribune. The victims were identified as Kareem, Qayum, Nadir, Ameen and Muyeed. “The suspects threw the bodies out of…
ISLAMABAD: Petroleum Minister Shahid Khaqan Abbasi said on Monday that Pakistan is committed to Iran-Pakistan (IP) gas pipeline but it is still facing sanctions. “The transaction of dollars has not been allowed and investors are not willing to finance due to ‘snap back’ clause which may lead to sanctions again on the project,” he said while addressing a seminar on ““LNG Market Analysis and Trends” here. He said that IP gas pipeline project required $2…
ISLAMABAD: Terming liquefied natural gas (LNG) import a sustainable solution to the energy crisis, Petroleum and Natural Resources Minister Shahid Khaqan Abbasi said on Monday Pakistan was committed to the Iran-Pakistan (IP) gas pipeline project but it was still facing sanctions. “Dollar transactions have not been allowed and investors are not willing to finance due to the ‘snap back’ clause, which may lead to imposition of sanctions again on the project,” Abbasi said while speaking…
ISLAMABAD: A Navy tribunal sentenced five officers to death in the Sept 6, 2014, Karachi Naval Dockyard attack case, father of one of the convicts said on Monday. Retired Major Saeed Ahmed told Dawn that in a trial his son, Sub-Lieutenant Hammad Ahmed, and four other naval officers had been convicted of the naval dockyard attack that took place on Defence Day around two years ago. He said the five were charged with having links…