KABUL: More than a dozen Daesh militants were killed in a drone attack in eastern Afghanistan on Sunday night, just hours after President Ashraf Ghani said his country was becoming a “graveyard” for members of the terrorist group, a government official said. Unlike its branches in Syria, Iraq and Libya, Daesh’s Afghan offshoot has struggled to establish a foothold in the country, partly because of tough resistance from security forces and the Taliban. Most of…
Posts published in “Day: March 8, 2016”
The Afghan and Pakistani forces exchanged along the Durand Line for several hours starting late on Sunday afternoon, local officials in Nangarhar said. The clashes erupted in Goshta district of Nangarhar province around 2:00 pm local time and reportedly continued for several hours. According to the local officials, the exchange of fire erupted after the Pakistani militia forces attack Anarki area in Goshta district. A member of the provincial council said the Afghn forces were…
The Indian government first placed the state of Gujarat and now capital city New Delhi on alert after receiving a tip-off from Pakistan that 10 militants, possibly belonging to the Jaish-e-Mohammed or Lashkar-e-Taiba, may have crossed the border into Gujarat. The Hindu festival of Mahashrivatri will be observed this week and so the Indian government has beefed up security at both temples and security installations. We cannot be sure how real this threat is but…
The capital of India, New Delhi, and its western state of Gujrat are on a high security alert since Sunday March 6, 2016. According to Indian news sources, this development took place after Pakistan’s National Security Adviser (NSA) Nasser Khan Janjua tipped off his Indian counterpart Ajit Doval about a possible Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT) plot to stage cross-border terrorist strikes during the Shivaratri festival in Gujrat. The news sources claim that the intelligence shared by NSA…
India has often alleged that Pakistani intelligence agencies facilitate militants to cross the border so that they can carry out attacks in Indian cities – a claim the agencies have always denied. Regardless, of definitive proof, incidents of militants crossing borders, real or fictitious, always strain the relationship between the two neighbours. It is for the first time perhaps, that militants crossing over from Pakistan into India hasn’t generated negative publicity. On Monday, top officials…
ISLAMABAD: The Senate passed on Monday a resolution asking the government to “revisit” the 46-year-old Indus Waters Treaty on water sharing with India. The house adopted the resolution moved by PPP’s Dr Karim Ahmed Khawaja through a voice vote after Minister of State for Water and Power Abid Sher Ali opposed the move, terming it “impossible”. The minister’s response angered some opposition members who accused the government of lacking will for resolving the issues which…
ISLAMABAD: Why did Indian National Security Advisor Ajit Doval leak to the media confidential intelligence warnings that were related to a possible terrorist attack on religious sites and processions in Gujarat? There is no official confirmation of passing on this intelligence by either Islamabad or New Delhi but the Indian media quoting diplomatic and security forces wrote that it was Pakistan’s National Security Advisor Lt Gen (R) Naseer Janjua who passed on this warning on…
The Chinese public is mourning the government’s recent tightening of restrictions on TV content — and so are several of the country’s most famous TV professionals, who are voicing their frustration during China’s annual legislative meetings in Beijing. Zhang Guoli, one of China’s best-known actors and producers, said Monday that he and his peers had started to back away from making TV dramas due to increased government restrictions. “From submitting an application to the final…
The U.S. Commerce Department slapped Chinese telecommunications equipment and smartphone maker ZTE Corp. with export restrictions on Monday for allegedly exporting U.S.-made high-tech goods to Iran. Exhibit No. 1 in the U.S. agency case: company memos prepared by ZTE’s legal department that are a step-by-step guide for setting up shell companies to circumvent U.S. export controls. One document – labeled “Top Secret Highly Confidential” – doesn’t mince words. It says that U.S. export controls are…
BEIJING — A Chinese lawyer and professor who was detained last summer during a crackdown on human rights lawyers has fled to the United States after being released from surveillance, according to an international human rights group and a statement from the lawyer. The lawyer, Chen Taihe, 45, joined his wife and children in San Leandro, Calif., on March 1, according to John Kamm, the founder of the Dui Hua Foundation, a group based in…
SHANGHAI—Exactly a year ago, Premier Li Keqiang set out the case for difficult industrial overhauls. “This is not nail-clipping,” he warned, “it’s like taking a knife to one’s own flesh.” The comments recalled his fearsome predecessor Zhu Rongji who eliminated 30 million jobs practically in one go in a cleanup of state enterprises in the late 1990s. But Mr. Li has yet to follow through. The problems he was grappling with back then have all…