Taliban on Monday launched a coordinated assault on Nawa district in the southern province of Helmand, seizing control of the strategic town from government forces. Nawa police chief was also killed during the battle with the hardline militant group. “We have pushed back the enemy in Aqtash, Khanabad and Qala-e-Zal distircts. The enemy has tried to keep us busy here,” said Mohammad Radmanish, deputy spokesman for Defense Ministry. Meanwhile, Helmand lawmakers warned that Khanashin, Marjah,…
Posts published in “Day: October 6, 2016”
KABUL: At least six people were killed and 35 wounded on Monday, when an improvised explosive device tore into a crowded marketplace in a northern Afghan province on the border with Turkmenistan, officials said. The bomb, hidden on a bicycle, exploded as farmers gathered in Darzab district of the province of Jawzjan on market day, but there was no immediate word on who was responsible. “People usually come from surrounding villages on Monday to do…
TIMERGARA/BATKHELA: Awami National Party will arrange protest demonstration in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, Sindh and Balochistan against federal government for not starting work on western route of China-Pakistan Economic Corridor project. Talking to a group of local journalists at his residence in Odigram, Lower Dir on Sunday, ANP information secretary Zahid Khan that the protest in Peshawar would be held on Tuesday (today). He said that Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif had promised during an all-party conference and…
The expulsion of dozens of National People’s Congress deputies from Liaoning province last month was triggered by the lower-level, provincial legislature’s rejection three years ago of NPC candidates recommended by Beijing, sources say. They said top Communist Party leaders were enraged when unprecedented, large-scale vote rigging in the Liaoning People’s Congress in 2013 saw NPC candidates favoured by the party leadership fail to win election. The scale of the scandal, which saw the party’s preferred…
Chinese naval vessels Xiangtan and Zhoushan of the 23rd Escort Task Group called at the Myanmar International Terminals Thilawa (MITT) in Yangon’s Thanlyin township on Friday, following the completion of its escort mission in the Gulf of Aden, reports Xinhua on September 30. The Chinese People’s Liberation Army (PLA) Navy fleet’s five-day visit to Myanmar aims to implement the important consensus reached by military leaders of both sides, that is to strengthen strategic communication, promote…
The writer is a retired ambassador and a former UN Assistant Secretary General Pakistan should respond to India’s latest moves on the Indus Waters Treaty (IWT) in a responsible manner aimed at achieving its core concerns over the shared water resources of the Indus Basin, its sole source of fresh water. In this regard, an analysis of the decisions taken by a high-level meeting convened by Prime Minister Modi on September 26 is called for.…
The writer is an independent researcher and columnist based in Karachi. The right-wing government of India is bent on accusing Pakistan of terrorism and militancy. After facing diplomatic failure in its smear campaign against Pakistan, the supremacist BJP has lately displayed its inclination to employ water as a weapon against Pakistan. In this context, Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi convened a special meeting of top Indian water experts on September 26 to ponder over the…
The writer is an author, a public policy analyst and a former interior secretary. He teaches at LUMS The attack on the brigade headquarter in Uri in Indian-held Kashmir is still shrouded in mystery with there being reports that most casualties were on account of serious burns suffered by the victims. A petrol depot in the camp caught fire after grenade attacks, which engulfed nearby tents and their occupants. These tents were not fire-resistant that…
The writer is a former Rhodes scholar, We humans reach a point in life when we are forced to reflect on our past trajectories: our failed marriages, our harmless peccadilloes, our egregious mistakes, the chances that came knocking on our door that we failed to turn into financial, moral or intellectual achievements. This reflex is in-built in our consciousness, and it provides us with a compass that helps us stay on course. Some of us…
The writer is an analyst and commentator. The total national income (GDP) of India in 2015 was $2,074 billion. During the same period, Pakistan’s GDP was $270 billion. This is not a small difference. But it gets bigger when we consider the trajectory that these two countries are on. India has been growing at well above five percent per year for several years (and expected to grow at over seven percent this year). Pakistan is…
The alleged attack on the Baramulla military camp in Indian-held Kashmir, carried out on Sunday, is the most recent thorn in Pakistan-India relations. This episode can already be contextualised within the broader political scenario. At the centre of this military exchange, and other recent developments, lies the ego of Narendra Modi. Modi’s idiosyncrasies; his early initiation into the RSS and his whimsical spirit; have made him a man who prefers action over inaction. By carefully…