Press "Enter" to skip to content

Posts published in December 2016

Gen. Raheel likely to be made defence advisor of Saudi-led military alliance

ISLAMABAD: Former Chief of Army Staff, General (retd) Raheel Sharif is expected to be appointed defence advisor of Saudi Arabia-led military alliance of 39 Muslim countries to fight terrorism. Raheel Sharif, who recently retired as Pakistan’s Army Chief, has arrived in Saudi Arabia as a Royal Guest in a special plane. A grand reception is hosted in his honour in Riyadh, the capital of Kingdom of Saudi Arabia. It will also be attended by the…

Senior Taliban leader arrested in Logar, 60 killed during the operations: MoI By KHAAMA PRESS – Tue Dec 27 2016

The Ministry of Interior (MoI) has said a senior Taliban leader was arrested during an operation in central Logar province while at least 60 others were killed during the counter-terrorism operations. “Yesterday evening, a senior armed Taliban member named Shaista Mohammad was arrested when Afghan National Police launched a special operation in Qala-e-Ghafar village, Pul-e-Alam City capital of Logar province,” MoI said in a statement. The statement further added that Shaista Mohammad was involved in…

Kabul police foil 8 explosions in the city in past 2 weeks, arrest 597 criminals By KHAAMA PRESS – Tue Dec 27 2016,

The Afghan National Police (ANP) forces thwarted at least 8 explosion plots in the city in past two weeks besides arresting around 597 people on various criminal charges. Kabul Police Chief General Abdul Rahman Rahimi told reporters that the suspects were arrested in connection to organized crimes, including murder, robbery, smuggling of drugs, morale crimes, possession of illegal weapons, and attempts to disrupt the order of the city. Gen. Rahimi further added that the militants…

Pakistan, China, Russia warn of increased IS threat in Afghanistan Dawn.com | Reuters in dawn, Dec 28, 2016

Russia, China and Pakistan warned on Tuesday that the influence of the militant Islamic State (IS) was growing in Afghanistan and that the security situation there was deteriorating. The countries had issued a joint statement after the third round of trilateral consultations on regional issues between officials from Russia, China and Pakistan held in Moscow on Tuesday. “(The three countries) expressed particular concern about the rising activity in the country of extremist groups, including the…

Pakistan, China, Russia agree to expand talks on Afghanistan Baqir Sajjad Syed in Dawn, December 28th, 2016

ISLAMABAD: Russia, China and Pakistan on Tuesday agreed to expand their tripartite consultations on Afghan conflict and include other countries, including Afghanistan, after Kabul objected to its absence from the regional discussions. “The parties agreed to proceed with consultations in an expanded format and would welcome the participation of Afghanistan,” a joint statement issued after a meeting of the senior officials of the three countries said. It was the third round of talks between the…

Russia, China favour taking Taliban off UN sanctions list By Kamran Yousaf in The Express Tribune, December 28th, 2016.

ISLAMABAD: Russia and China, being permanent members of the United Nations Security Council, have decided to work towards delisting the Afghan Taliban from the world body’s sanctions list in a move, they said, is aimed at launching peaceful dialogue between Afghanistan’s government and insurgent groups. The announcement came in a joint statement issued after the trilateral meeting involving senior officials from Pakistan, Russia and China. The three-way talks that discussed the current situation of Afghanistan…

China, Russia, Pakistan hold trilateral talks on Afghanistan issue By Bai Tiantian in Global Times, Dec 27, 2016

China, Russia and Pakistan held secretary-level trilateral talks in Moscow on Tuesday to discuss regional stability, including the restoration of peace in Afghanistan. Deng Xijun, China’s special envoy on Afghan Affairs, attended the meeting. “China’s stance on the Afghan issue is consistent. We support an Afghan-owned and Afghan-led political settlement to the Afghan conflict. We believe that negotiation is the only solution to resolve the Afghan issue and we are willing to continue playing a…

Don’t let rumors ruin China-backed projects: By Ai Jun in Global Times, Dec 28, 2016

The author is a reporter with the Global Times. Is the promotion of the mutually beneficial cooperation over infrastructure construction in countries along the One Belt and One Road initiative bound to be applauded? The rising China-related rumors in a number of Beijing’s neighboring countries mirror that this may be to some extent a wishful thinking from the Chinese side. Some Pakistani and Indian media recently claimed the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC) was accused of…

China’s Xi stresses importance of democratic centralism to top leadership Xinhua report in The Global Times, Dec 28, 2016

Xi Jinping, general secretary of the Communist Party of China (CPC) Central Committee, has stressed the importance of adhering to democratic centralism. The Political Bureau of the CPC Central Committee must continue to stick firmly to democratic centralism, Xi told a meeting of the Political Bureau held on Monday and Tuesday, during which members discussed measures to improve intra-Party political life and supervision. Xi praised the Political Bureau in sticking to democratic centralism in the…

China sees PLA playing frontline role in cyberspace: by Zhuang Pinghui in South China Morning Post,Dec 28, 2016,

Beijing vowed on Tuesday to use all necessary means, including military ones, to wipe out subversion and attempts to undermine its sovereignty in cyberspace. A strategy document released by top internet regulator the ­Cyberspace Administration said the use of the internet for treason, secession, revolt, subversion or stealing or leaking of state secrets would be punished. It also warned of penalties for working with “overseas forces” for sabotage, subversion or secession. It identified cyberspace challenges…

Chinese ‘corporate hackers’ accused of attacking US law firms Report in South China Morning Post, Dec 28, 2016

Three Chinese hackers made more than US$4 million in illicit profits after breaking into the servers of top corporate law firms in New York, according to US judicial authorities. One has been arrested and charges laid. The three targeted at least seven major international law firms that had been retained by companies to advise on deals and successfully got into the email accounts of senior lawyers at two of the firms, according to the indictment…