ISLAMABAD: Billions of rupees have been sought by the Pakistan Atomic Energy Commission in additional funds for timely completion of the ongoing work on nuclear power plants with a total output capacity of 2,880 megawatts on time, as the government struggles to create fiscal space for timely commissioning of these projects. Asking for the government’s continued financial support, PAEC Chairman Muhammad Naeem also announced that Chashma-3 nuclear power plant with a generation capacity of 340…
Posts published in “Day: April 16, 2016”
The writer is a Lahore-based defence analyst. While Pakistan is abuzz with Panama Leaks, a major agreement between India and the US is taking shape, which could have long-lasting strategic effects on the security calculus of the Afro-Asian region and beyond. The US had been consistently prodding India since 2004 to cement their security relationship by enhancing military cooperation. In military parlance, logistics is the activity of organising the movement, equipment, and accommodation of military…
The writer, a former Interior Secretary, sereved as ambassador to Afghanistan a The much-trumpeted peace process launched through the quadrilateral contact group, comprising Afghanistan, China, Pakistan and the US, appears to have lost its way. This was not unexpected. Surprisingly, in initiating a new effort, no attention was focused on the causes that led to the failure of previous such endeavours. The same errors of judgement were made repeatedly, in the hope of achieving a…
On Thursday the US State Department released its official report on human rights violation in Pakistan from 2015 to 2016; concluding that “the most serious human rights problems in Pakistan were extrajudicial and targeted killings [and] disappearances”. The words and recommendations of John Kerry – who published the report – ring hollow in the wake of the recently published and widely circulated article by Malik Jalal, who tells the harrowing story of the indiscriminate destruction…
Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has announced the Organization of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) has accepted his proposal to create a multinational police center based in Istanbul. Seeking the lead role in uniting some 1.7 billion Muslims under Ankara’s command, Erdogan urged the IOC delegates at the summit to overcome internal differences in Islam. The plan, with Erdogan behind it, sounds like a resurrection of Pan-Islamism. However, the political divides in the Islamic world make the…
At least seven Chechen militants including three women were killed during an operation in central Logar province of Afghanistan. According to the local security officials, the women were killed during an operation that triggered gun battle in Kharwar district. Provincial governor’s spokesman Salim Saleh said three commanders of the militants were also killed along with 7 militants from Chechnya. He said the operations were conducted as part of Zarghoon operations to suppress the militants activities…
KUNDUZ, Afghanistan — Taliban militants on Friday attacked several districts surrounding the northern city of Kunduz, which briefly fell to themlast year. But even as Afghan officials said the security forces had successfully fought off the assault, residents expressed alarm that the insurgents were again at the city’s gates. The assault on Friday was the first major push by the Taliban after the group declared that its annual offensive had officially begun this week. But…
The Afghan intelligence operatives have arrested the Taliban shadow governor for the restive Ghazni province in southeastern Afghanistan. According to a statement by National Directorate of Security (NDS), the shadow Taliban governor Qari Yousuf was arrested during a military operation in Sheikh Amir village, Gurbaz district, Khost province. The statement further added that Qari Yousuf was planning to carry out coordinated attack o government institutions before he was arrested. He was held as he had…
LANDI KOTAL: The Khyber Agency political administration on Friday resumed its ‘clean up’ operation against the illegal Afghans living near the border and demolished over a dozen mud houses. Sources said that a number of the unregistered Afghan families who were evicted from their houses also left for Afghanistan on Friday. The exact number of such families was not available with the officials of the political administration. The sources said that out of the total…
LANDI KOTAL: Tempers soared once again at the Torkham border on Friday when guards of Afghanistan and Pakistan exchanged harsh words after hundreds of Afghans were stopped by immigration staff to check their travel documents before they could enter Pakistan. The incident also caused temporary suspension of both vehicular traffic and pedestrian movement on both sides of the border which was restored after senior officials intervened. Pakistani officials insisted that they had already communicated to…
WASHINGTON: The US State Department has warned that corruption fuels extremism, increases economic instability and has a corrosive effect on society. The department’s spokesman John Kirby made these remarks when asked if the United States supported the opposition’s demand for Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif to step down because of his alleged involvement in the Panama leaks scandal or continued to back him. “These are decisions that the Pakistani people have to make, and…I’m not talking…