The writer is former executive editor of The News and a senior journalist with Geo TV. Chief of Army Staff General Raheel Sharif was right on the money when he said condemnation was too small a word in response to the US drone attack. This attack didn’t just take out a Taliban leader, it struck our territory and tore holes in our land and aerial sovereignty. Simple condemnation does not underline the seriousness of the…
Posts published in “Day: June 7, 2016”
GIVEN the increasing focus on Afghan refugees inside Pakistan, it is often forgotten by people here that this vulnerable group also finds itself displaced within its own borders. According to an Amnesty International report poignantly titled, My Children Will Die This Winter: Afghanistan’s Broken Promise to the Displaced, Afghan refugees continue to live in appalling conditions without adequate shelter, food, water, education or healthcare facilities. This situation marks the failure of the Kabul government to…
WASHINGTON: The United States and India will also talk about Pakistan during Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s visit to the US capital this week, says a senior US lawmaker. Prime Minister Modi is scheduled to arrive in Washington on Monday on a three-day visit, his fourth since coming to power two years ago. Mr Modi begins his engagements in the US capital with a visit to the Tomb of Unknown soldier on Monday. US Defence…
ISLAMABAD: Adviser to Prime Minister on Foreign Affairs Sartaj Aziz on Sunday said India never opened a window of opportunity for dialogue and goodwill with Pakistan as all the development in this regard was sabotaged when the talks between the countries were postponed after the Pathankot attack. “It is a very strange thing to say as it was decided here on December 9 that the dialogue will resume but then the Pathankot incident occurred and…
The writer is a professor of psychiatry and consultant forensic psychiatrist in the UK (The Saudis awarded the highest civil award to Prime Minister Narendra Modi on his very first visit to Saudi Arabia. He did not go there to beg for favours. He went there to negotiate deals in national interests, points out the writer) We as a nation do not care about so much tyranny being perpetrated upon us, but we pride ourselves…
GILGIT: At least three officials of Karakoram Security force (KSF) have been suspended by Gilgit-Baltistan IGP Zafar Iqbal Awan for performing their duties negligently. The cops were suspended after they failed to chase a Chinese national who illegally purchased arms and attempted to smuggle them to China. “[Awan] has taken the decision to punish [the official],” Mubarak Jan, a spokesperson for the G-B police, told The Express Tribune on Sunday. The suspended officials included KSF…
KUNMING, China/VIENTIANE: For the southwestern city of Kunming, China’s plan to extend a high-speed rail link 3,000 km south to Singapore is already a boon: pristine expressways, a gleaming station and something of a real estate boom, as young buyers crowd property showrooms. In Laos, work has yet to start on what should be the first overseas leg of a rail line stretching throughout Southeast Asia. The country, one of the region’s poorest, could struggle…
REUTERS report RIYADH: Under King Salman, Saudi Arabia is expanding its confrontation with Iran well beyond the Middle East, no longer relying heavily on Western allies to smother Tehran’s ambitions outside the Arab world. Since Salman came to power early last year, and Tehran struck a nuclear deal with world powers, Riyadh has adjusted its strategy for countering the efforts of its Muslim rival to build influence in Africa, Asia and even Latin America. Most…
The writer is a freelance columnist based at Islamabad. Even after 15 years of counter-terrorism operations, peace continues to elude Afghanistan and the country remains vulnerable to terrorism. How to achieve peace in the strategically located country? The issue keeps occupying the minds of leaders, policy-makers and think-tanks around the globe, more so in the neighbouring countries like Pakistan, which has a long porous border with Afghanistan, dotted with 144 natural passes. Pakistan has rendered…
The writer is a former ambassador. The death of Taliban leader Mullah Akhtar Mansour who was killed in a drone strike in Balochistan near the border with Afghanistan has raised more questions than it answers with regard to the Afghan peace process. The first thought that comes to mind is: how come a person of his importance was travelling alone, without any guards or companions, in such a carefree manner? What was he doing in…
The writer is a PhD candidate and coordinator of the South Asia Study Group at the University of Sydney If we are to believe the Americans, Pakistan is responsible for the US failure in Afghanistan — the double games played by our security establishment to bring America down to its knees, and the triple-crossing to hook the Afghan Taliban under its wings, all show that Pakistan has been at it from the very start. As…