Posts published in “Day: November 2, 2016”

Corrupt Chinese officials may earn lighter sentences by blowing the whistle on fellow officials, confessing to their crimes or even crying and wailing in court, a criminal defence lawyer known for representing disgraced senior officials has revealed. Xu Lanting, who represented former presidential aide Ling Jihua, said in an interview with the Beijing Times that fallen officials often exposed the crimes of fellow officials in the hope of more lenient sentences. “If what they expose…

A big question mark hanging over the future of the Chinese economy will soon be cleared up: is Communist Party general secretary Xi Jinping an old-style hardliner who views absolute power as an end in itself or a reformist who sees the consolidation of power as a necessary step towards meaningful reform? With a key party meeting last week recognising Xi as the “core” of the party leadership – acknowledgement of his undisputed authority –…

PESHAWAR: The Afghan Taliban leadership has sought time to reply to Pakistan government’s recent call to hold peace talks with the government of President Ashraf Ghani. Taliban sources said Pakistani officials conveyed their wish to the three-member Afghan Taliban delegation that visited Pakistan recently. The delegation members included Mulla Shahabuddin Dilawar, Mulla Jan Mohammad Madani and Mulla Abdul Salam Hanafi. All of them are members of the Doha-based Taliban Political Commission. The sources said the…

ISLAMABAD: National Security Adviser (NSA) Lt Gen (retd) Nasir Khan Janjua on Monday said the issue of bringing those attached with extremist organisations into the mainstream was being discussed since long. He was replying to The News’ questions with regard to remarks by Lt Gen (retd) Amjad Shoaib about putting in cold storage the plan to de-radicalise militants, including the JuD activists. Lt Gen (retd) Nasir Khan Janjua said: “It is true that there has…

The writer works at the Islamabad Policy Research Institute (IPRI) It is reported that the Afghan government and Taliban representatives held secret talks in Qatar to resume the dialogue process to end the protracted war in Afghanistan. The first round of recent talks was held in September while the second round of talks was held in early October in the presence of a US representative. The Qatar talks are the first initiative after the inconclusive…

Ministry of Defense (MoD) on Sunday said at least 3,600 military operations have been launched across the country over the past seven months – killing nearly 9,000 insurgents so far. “We managed to carry out 10 to 30 military operations on a daily basis in various provinces. Thousands of insurgents have been killed and their important resources have been destroyed so far,” said Mohammad Radmanish, deputy spokesman for the Defense Ministry. According to the Ministry…

At least 70 Taliban insurgents were allegedly killed in an airstrike targeting the gathering of the group’s fighters in an abandoned army base in southern Uruzgan province. Provincial governor’s spokesman Dost Mohammad Nayab confirmed the airstrike took place late on Sunday afternoon in Chora district. He said at least 80 Taliban insurgents were also wounded as they were busy destroying the abandoned army base in the area. According to the local officials, the Taliban insurgents…

Pakistan has asked the Taliban leaders to leave the country with their family members if they sidelined Islamabad from peace talks with the Afghan government, it has been reported. Two senior Taliban leaders quoted in a report by VOA’s Afghanistan service have said that Pakistan have warned the group that Islamabad should not be sidelined from the talks. According to the report, Islamabad is apparently worried of the recent secret talks between the Taliban group…

KABUL, Afghanistan — The Taliban’s internal debate over whether and how to negotiate with the Afghan government is playing out in the open, even as there have been renewed attempts to restart talks. Breaking with nearly 15 years of public silence, Sayed Muhammad Tayeb Agha, who until recently was the Taliban’s chief negotiator and head of their political commission, issued a letter about peace talks to the insurgency’s supreme leader over the summer and discussed…

WASHINGTON: As a part of its explosive probe into hundreds of thousands of official emails linked to US Presidential candidate Hillary Clinton, Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) may also create a software to search the terms like “Pakistan” to ascertain whether any classified information was shared through those emails. Although Mrs Clinton still has slight edge over Donald Trump in early-voter turnout in several vital swing states, experts here believe the email scandal could potentially…