Posts published in July 2016

ISLAMABAD – Gwadar deep sea port is set for commencement of operations with new Chinese port operator China Overseas Ports Holding Company in December this year, sources said yesterday. Pakistan has granted 40-year concession to the Chinese company which is currently working implementing expansion and development plan creating cargo handling capacity upto 300 million tons a year. The previous concession holder M/s Port of Singapore Authority International had set up a Multipurpose Terminal at the…

Federal Minister for Planning and Development Ahsan Iqbal on Thursday said agreement of China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC) is confidential and cannot be made public. “Agreement of the economic corridor with China is sensitive and it cannot be disclosed,” Iqbal said in the Senate session. However, the minister handed over a sealed copy of the CPEC agreement to Senate Chairman Raza Rabbani and asked the members to examine the agreement in the chamber of the chairman…

China said on Thursday that Japan should reflect why it has become the “small minority” on the South China Sea issue, otherwise it will get increasingly disappointed and isolated. Foreign Ministry spokesperson Lu Kang made the comment in response to Japanese media reports that Japan will continue to work with the international community to urge China to comply with international law and accept the “award” of the South China Sea arbitration. “Japan seems reluctant to…

China has reportedly detained a Japanese official from a Japan-China exchange group for his alleged involvement in spying activities, but the Tokyo-based group denies any links with the man. Japanese public broadcaster NHK reported on Thursday that the man was detained in Beijing in mid-July for what Chinese authorities said his “role in espionage.” An anonymous Japanese told the Global Times that the man may have ties to the biggest Japan-China exchange group in Chiyoda,…

The author is a reporter with the Global Times A news photograph showing soldiers rescuing a Nepalese woman from floodwaters was circulated on the Chinese Internet on Thursday, winning empathy as many people in China are working to fight their own floods at the same time. The recent flooding in Nepal has killed 58 people and left thousands homeless across the South Asian nation, media reports said Thursday. Although Sino-Nepal ties face uncertainty after Nepal’s…

The author is Executive Director at the India Studies Center at Beijing International Studies University. KP Sharma Oli resigned as Nepal’s prime minister on Sunday ahead of a no-confidence vote against him by the opposition Nepali Congress (NC) and the Communist Party of Nepal – Maoist Center (MC) led by Pushpa Kamal Dahal, better known as Prachanda, which had just broke from the coalition government with Oli’s Communist Party of Nepal – Marxist Leninist. Oli’s…

The writer is an independent researcher and columnist based in Karachi. With its phenomenal battlefield successes in the Middle East, Daesh has attracted an abundant supply of jihadi fighters inside Afghanistan, thus making significant inroads into this strife-torn country. According to some reports, the terror outfit has gained adequate areas for establishing itself in the provinces of Nangarhar, Paktika, Nooristan and Badakhan. From these provinces, it continues to conduct its terror attacks on government installations,…

The writer is a senior police officer. The Islamic State’s (IS) latest claim of responsibility for the killing of 80 protestors in twin suicide attacks in Kabul gives birth to multiple questions. With a big bang, the IS not only targeted a sectarian community, it also simultaneously challenged the Taliban, the Afghan security apparatus and international forces. The year 2016 has brought with it an acceleration of sabotage activities, proving the expanding presence and operational…

RAWALPINDI: The Punjab Home Department on Wednesday directed Punjab police to take strict action against activists of Jamaat-ud-Dawa Pakistan (JuD), an organisation which is on the UN watch list and is accused by India of being involved in the 2008 Mumbai attacks. It is headed by Hafiz Mohammad Saeed, who has been engaged in fundraising throughout the country via the organisation’s charity wing Falah-e-Insayat Foundation (FIF). In its directions issued to the additional inspector general…

I am a Pakistani medical doctor, currently receiving political asylum in the US for the past year and a half. I sought refuge here after having to go through much humiliation and outright hatred for trying to practice ethical medicine and for belonging to a religious minority in my own motherland. A while back, my father retired from a reputed local bank in Pakistan and moved to the US, along with the rest of my…