The former Afghan President Hamid Karzai has said that the key regional countries, including Iran, India and Russia should be part of the Afghan reconciliation process with the Taliban group. The remarks by Karzai comes amid ongoing efforts by the Quadrilateral Coordination Group, involving Afghanistan, Pakistan, China and United States to revive stalled peace talks. “If absence of peace in Afghanistan is because of internal disputes, then we, ourselves, should hold talks to settle our…
Posts published in “Day: February 8, 2016”
ISLAMABAD: “I get these reports every morning. They are somewhat painful to read since, as you know, in Pakistan, the media can be particularly outrageous. However, we can’t ignore the fact that these talk shows are the most watched programming,” former US undersecretary of state Judith McHale wrote in an email to Hillary Clinton in Feb 2010. The reports she refers to are exhaustive summaries of Pakistani primetime talk shows that log the discussion on…
Pak-India relations: A forecast for next fifty years:by Farah Adeed in the Nation blogs, Feb 8, 2016
the blogger is a student of Political Science & Sociology at the University of Punjab, Lahore. The reality is, whether we accept it or not, that Pakistan and India are two ‘uncomfortable’ and ‘uneasy’ neighbors who have been flirting with the idea of love and friendship since long. Even though both countries have many things in common, yet it is an undeniable reality that there is a fundamental difference between socio-political values and cultures of…
LAHORE – During the current year, Pakistan would like to engage with India in a sustained, meaningful and comprehensive dialogue not only to evolve additional confidence-building measures but also to focus on resolving longstanding disputes like Jammu and Kashmir, Siachen and Sir Creek. “Implementation of the Ceasefire Agreement of 2003 will also receive priority to ensure tranquillity on the Line of Control and the Working Boundary”, says an internal Foreign Office document circulated by the…
RIYADH: Saudi Arabia’s King Salman on Sunday called on other countries not to interfere in the kingdom’s internal affairs in what appeared to be a rebuke to Riyadh’s main foe Iran, which it accuses of attempting to stir unrest. “It is our right to defend ourselves, without interfering in the affairs of others. We call on others to not interfere in our affairs,” Salman said in a speech opening the annual Janadriya cultural festival in…
A detailed report published in this newspaper on February 6 lays out with convincing clarity the reality of penetration by the Islamic State (IS) into Pakistan. The report primarily focuses on IS activity in Punjab but the group has a presence to a greater or lesser extent in every province of the land. Trenchant denials as to this have come from the government but any further denial will be absurd. The IS is present in…
ISLAMABAD: Pakistan and Afghanistan are likely to discuss the revival of an agreement between their top spy agencies in a latest move by the two neighbours to reset their relationship bedeviled by trust deficit and sporadic blame games, The Express Tribune learnt on Sunday. According to official and diplomatic sources, the issue came up for discussion during a recent meeting between Lt-Gen Rizwan Akhtar, the director general of the Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI), and Masud Andrabi,…