By MUJIB MASHAL and FAHIM ABED KABUL, Afghanistan — As heavy snow fell on the muddy arena in northern Afghanistan where a traditional game of buzkashi — two teams of horsemen fighting for a dead goat — was underway on Friday, a scuffle broke out near the stands. It was not just another group of hotheaded fans going at it. The man who had thrown the punch is the vice president of Afghanistan, Gen. Abdul…
Posts published in November 2016
The central government is embarking on a massive policy shift designed to stem capital outflow by curbing mainland China’s outbound investment, sources informed of official instructions have told the South China Morning Post. Tighter control of outbound investment is likely to put an end to a trophy asset shopping spree by well-connected companies such as Anbang Insurance and Dalian Wanda, with Beijing ready to cut the supply of foreign exchange for such deals. Shanghai’s municipal…
China Takes a Chain Saw to a Center of Tibetan Buddhism By EDWARD WONG in The NY Times, Nov 29, 2016
LARUNG GAR, China — Atop a hill, a growling chain saw drowned out loudspeakers broadcasting a lama’s chants from a nearby temple. The chain saw, wielded by workers demolishing a row of homes, signaled the imminent end of thousands of hand-built monastic dwellings here at Larung Gar, the world’s largest Buddhist institute. Since its founding in 1980, Larung Gar has grown into an extraordinary and surreal sprawl — countless red-painted dwellings surrounding temples, stupas and…
A study by TOLOnews has found that human smugglers are operating openly in southwestern Nimroz province – which shares a border with Iran – and are smuggling dozens of migrants on a daily basis into Iran. According to the study, no one stops these convoys of pickup trucks, loaded with migrants, who are driven to the border at night. These migrants can spend days at the border town of Zaranj while they wait to be…
Ahmad Zia Massoud, the president’s special representative on reforms and good governance, on Sunday said in Herat city that major drug traffickers are in the National Unity Government (NUG) and they are preventing security forces from eliminating insurgents. Massoud, had been speaking at the inauguration ceremony of National Resistance Council and said as long as poppy fields exist in the country, the war will not stop. “Major drug smugglers are in the government departments and…
Sediq Seddiqi, spokesman for the Ministry of Interior (MoI) said on Sunday that Pakistan’s intelligence agency, Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI), is sending Taliban members back to Afghanistan as return refugees. “We are worried about such conspiracies and plans and will do everything to prevent Taliban families from entering the country under the name of refugees,” he said. Ministry of Refugees and Repatriation (MoRR) meanwhile said using the refugees for political and military purposes is against international…
A Pakistani truck driver was arrested by the Afghan National Border Police (ANBP) forces as he was attempting to transport 9,310kg of Ammonium Nitrate via Torkham. “Yesterday evening, Afghan National Border Police (ANBP) confiscated 9310 kilos of Ammonium Nitrate, a key component used to make Improvised Explosive Devices,” the Ministry of Interior (MoI) said in a statement. The statement further added that Ammonium Nitrate was placed in a Pakistani truck transporting to Afghanistan. “The police…
MANDALAY, Myanmar — From damp and drizzly London, the siren of British imperialism, Rudyard Kipling, wrote a poem that captured the palm trees, pagodas and temple bells of Burma during colonial rule. The romance of that verse, “Mandalay,” became a refrain for the exotic East, and of this city, in particular, once a royal capital with a stunning palace. Written in 1890, it has resonated ever since: On the road to Mandalay, Where the flyin’…
Chinese Muslims should oppose religious extremism and not blindly follow foreign doctrine, said China’s top religious official according to state media reports. Speaking at a national congress of Muslims that began on Saturday in Beijing, Wang Zuoan, chief of the State Administration for Religious Affairs, said Chinese Muslims should “firmly resist the penetration of religious extremism” and “always keep to the direction of developing Islam with Chinese characteristics”, said a report on the administration’s website.…
ISLAMABAD: Iran has not responded yet to Pakistan’s proposal of a Free Trade Agreement (FTA) between the two countries, a highly-placed source said on Sunday. The proposal was made following Iranian President Hassan Rowhani’s visit to Pakistan in March when both the countries had decided to boost bilateral trade from $1 billion to $5 billion over the next five years. Last year, Islamabad and Tehran had reached an understanding during the 7th Pakistan-Iran Joint Trade…
ISLAMABAD: The United Arab Emirates (UAE) has toughened its visa policy for Pakistanis, particularly for those holding official and diplomatic passports. Now, official passport holders are required to wait for a longer time to get visas, contrary to the norms that accord priority to such passport holders. This startling revelation was made in a written reply of the Ministry for Foreign Affairs submitted to the Senate in response to a question of a senator. According…