Posts published in “Day: August 30, 2016”

Amid a surge in international pressure, Pakistan’s powerful intelligence agency, Inter Service Intelligence (ISI) is planning to move Taliban’s Quetta Shura to Helmand province in southern Afghanistan, said Hayatollah Hayat, the governor of Helmand province. Hayat said that the Afghan security forces have however, so far foiled ISI’s attempt to relocate the council (Quetta Shura) to Helmand province. According to Hayat, the move by the ISI comes amid a surge in international pressure on Pakistan.…

ISLAMABAD: The Indian authorities treat Pakistani high commissioner to New Delhi, Abdul Basit, as a ‘persona-non-grata’ and have not allowed him once to meet Indian external affairs minister or any other high profile dignitary during his tenure so far. Mr Basit was appointed the county’s high commissioner in New Delhi, in February 2014. Earlier, he served as Pakistan’s ambassador to Germany. Foreign Office (FO) sources told Daily Times that Indian external affairs minister Sushma Swaraj…

ISLAMABAD – Ministry of Interior yesterday clarified some media reports that an Indian diplomat had been living in Pakistan without a valid visa for the last six months and said that he had been issued valid visa after due confirmation from the Foreign Office. “The diplomat is serving in the Indian High Commission, Islamabad, while his visa had expired some six months ago and the interior ministry is reluctant to issue him a valid diplomatic…

In what was perhaps considered to be an inspired move, Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif announced on August 19 the appointment of 22 parliamentarians as his emissaries who will highlight the Kashmir issue in various countries around the world. Their job is to build awareness and support for a resolution of the conflict in Kashmir that will be the central focus of the prime minister’s speech at the United Nations this September. The prime minister feels…

GIVEN the critical situation in India-held Kashmir, with the death toll rising by the day, the world, especially the oppressed people of the valley, would have expected from Islamabad a response better than sending parliamentary delegations to world capitals to do a job for which few of them appear well equipped. They may not have fake degrees, and some of those named indeed do deserve to be there, but PTI’s Shah Mehmood Qureshi had a…

ISLAMABAD: With government’s announcement of 20 parliamentarians to be sent to world capitals as special envoys to highlight Kashmir issue, and more mainstream opposition MPs — 4-5 from PPP folds, and 2 from PTI — to be included in the effort, a debate is raging in Pakistan media how effective the whole move could be in the modern day targeted, specialised diplomacy in the prevalent international environment. The News exclusively talked to Defense Minister and…

ISLAMABAD: The Pakistan Meteorological Department on Monday issued an alert informing about the chances of riverine flood in Pakistan because India is likely to release rainwater from its main rivers after September 1. Also, Pakistan has received 25% above average rain since the onset of the monsoon season, according to the PMD. PMD Director-General Dr Ghulam Rasul told The Express Tribune normal to heavy showers are expected in the catchment areas near India from August…

ISLAMABAD: Adviser to Prime Minister on Foreign Affairs Sartaj Aziz on Monday said that some risks and challenges for China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC) projects were spelt out by experts and former diplomats but hoped that Pakistan would be able to implement this crucial initiative. Earlier, Chinese experts pointed out numbers of risks and challenges for the $46 billion CPEC, including opposing global environment, ethnic, regional and cultural differences and hitches over routes within Pakistan, saying…

Some Communist Party officials are on track to higher political ­office and allies of President Xi Jinping are in key positions after the latest round of personnel changes on the weekend. One of the political rising stars is Chen Quanguo, who was named party chief of Xinjiang, a post that usually comes with a seat on the decision-making Politburo. Chen, 60, the former party chief of Tibet, would replace Zhang Chunxian, one of the 25…

The Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region’s Communist Party of China (CPC) Committee has announced a change in leadership. Chen Quanguo replaces Zhang Chunxian as the committee’s secretary, according to an official statement on Monday. Chen was Secretary of the Tibet Autonomous Region’s CPC Committee from August 2011-August 2016. Zhang, who had worked in Xinjiang since 2010, will be transferred to another post, the statement said, citing a CPC Central Committee decision. Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region’s CPC…