At least ten civilians were killed in separate bomb explosions in southeastern Paktia province of Afghanistan on Friday, local officials said. Provincial governor’s spokesman Naqib Ahmad Atal said at least five members of a single family lost their lives in the first explosion in Samkanai district. He said the incident took place after a vehicle carrying the civilians struck an Improvised Explosive Device (IED). Atal further added that five more were killed in a separate…
Posts published in “Day: August 8, 2016”
The loyalists of the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS) terrorist group have beheaded two men in eastern Nangarhar province of Afghanistan on charges of supporting the pro-government forces in their fight against the terror group. The two men were reportedly executed in the restive Kot district on Friday which comes as the Afghan forces are busy conducting operations against the terror group in this district. The sympathizers of the terror group started circulating…
At least 5 Pakistani militants were killed in an airstrike in eastern Nangarhar province of Afghanistan late on Thursday night, local security authorities said. The provincial police commandment in a statement said the airstrike was carried out by the Afghan forces in Kot district. The statement further added that the 5 militants were fighting for the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS) terrorist group and were targeted in Elyas Baba area. Two of the…
On Thursday evening, an Mi-17 chopper belonging to the Punjab government crash-landed in Azra, a remote district of Afghanistan’s Logar province. The chopper was on its way to Russia via Uzbekistan for maintenance purposes, and comprised of a six-member crew that included a Russian national and some retired military officials of the Pakistan army. Conflicting reports suggested that the crew was taken hostage by the local members of the Afghan Taliban, which was confirmed by…
Pakistan’s Army Chief of Staff General Raheel Sharif has asked the U.S to help secure the safe release of Pakistani helicopter crew members a day after they were captured by the Taliban following their crash landing in Logar province. Meanwhile, a number of analysts have cast doubts over the incident. The helicopter reportedly made a crash landing Thursdayafternoon, after which the crew and passengers on board were allegedly captured by the Taliban. According to the…
ISLAMABAD: Pakistan has formally requested the Afghan government to locate the Pakistani helicopter, which crash-landed in the Logar Province on Thursday, and recover the crew members. Taking action on the media reports about crash landing of the helicopter in Afghanistan, Foreign Office requested the Afghan government to recover the crew safe and sound. “We are waiting for Afghan government’s response to confirm what happened, whereabouts of the helicopter and fate of its passengers,” Foreign Office…
The perpetual strain between its members has long withheld SAARC from realising its actual potential of promoting both political and economic cooperation in the region. Even this year, the summit was clouded in controversy over the absence of Bangladeshi Home Minister Asaduzzaman Khan Kamal, as well as the escalating tension over Kashmir. Nevertheless, the much-needed participation of India’s Union Home Minister Rajnath Singh in the 7th SAARC Home/Interior Ministers’ conference is a highly commendable development…
On paper, the South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation (Saarc) is exactly the type of organisation that the member states would derive considerable benefit from. Afghanistan, Pakistan, India, Nepal, Bangladesh, Bhutan, the Maldives and Sri Lanka are all nations at various stages of development, some more advanced than others. The membership covers three per cent of the global land area, 21 per cent of the world’s population and 9.12 per cent of the global economy…
Indian Home Minister Rajnath Singh indirectly accused Pakistan of sponsoring terrorism at the SAARC Interior Minis¬ters’ meeting, followed by a sharp rebuttal by Interior Minister Chaudhry Nisar Khan. Chaudhry Nisar Khan can be criticised for being undiplomatic, but this was not time for meekness, but for a tyrant to be called out. Once home, Singh apprised the Indian parliament of his failed visit and covered his tracks by blaming Pakistan and saying, “This neighbour never…
The seemingly perpetual tensions between most of its members have always hobbled Saarc and its ability to make both diplomatic and economic progress. India, the largest country in the association, has had various issues with all the other Saarc members at some point and, of course, the Kashmir issue has always been a thorn in its side. The Saarc interior ministers’ conference in Islamabad fell victim to these same problems. Even before the summit had…
Was it a matter of egos? For some, perhaps it was. But was Pakistan justified in the way it handled the situation? Perhaps not. Indian Home Minister Rajnath Singh, on Thursday, left the South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation (SAARC) Interior Ministers’ meeting halfway through after an alleged war of words on the floor of the summit with his Pakistani counterpart, Chaudhry Nisar Ali Khan. In a moment of rashness, Pakistan perhaps lost a great…