Tag: Pakistan

Last ditch efforts of Imran Khan: Gilgit-Baltistan Elections 2020
9Nov By Brian ThompsonNo Comments
Market

Last ditch efforts of Imran Khan: Gilgit-Baltistan Elections 2020

As the election date for the legislative assembly of Gilgit-Baltistan (GB) come closer (November 15), Pakistani Prime minister Imran Khan paid a visit to the occupied territory on November 1 and made an announcement that could be best described as a bribe to garner support for his Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) that has been struggling to find suitable candidates since most of those who were refused party tickets are now contesting against it as independents.Imran matched his visit with the day when on November 1, 1947 Major William Alexander Brown staged a coup against the legitimate ruler of Jammu and Kashmir Maharaja Hari Singh, and arrested his appointed governor Ghansara Singh. The imperial governor agreed to surrender at gunpoint only after he was threatened with the massacre of loca...
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Rights of minorities and forced conversions in Pakistan
5Nov By Brian ThompsonNo Comments
Market

Rights of minorities and forced conversions in Pakistan

Right now, a case with critical bearing on the rights of minorities in Pakistan is being heard at the High Court in Sindh. The case carries with it a particularly thorny question of religious conversion when it goes hand in hand with underage marriage.A Christian girl named Arzoo recently sought a court injunction to prevent the registration of a kidnapping case against a man with whom she had undergone a ‘nikah’ (wedding) ceremony, and his family. She had claimed in an affidavit that she was of 18 years and was ‘marrying’ him after converting to Islam of her own free will.However, incontrovertible documentary evidence has emerged that shows she is a 13-year-old child. The police said they arrested the purported ‘husband’, recovered the girl and were moving her to a shelter home for three ...
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‘TehreekTaliban Pakistan’ poster asks Dir women to quit education
5Nov By Joe RodriguezNo Comments
Asia

‘TehreekTaliban Pakistan’ poster asks Dir women to quit education

A poster purportedly pasted by the banned Tehreek-i-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) outside a women degree college in Samarbagh warned the female students to abandon education or face dire consequences.According to the principal of the Government Ghazi Umara Khan Degree College, the poster was allegedly pasted outside the institution’s main entrance on Friday night.The principal has also sent a letter to the director higher education department Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, asking for security measures for safeguarding the lives of the female students.The poster threatened the female students with death if they did not stop coming to the college.The college management has also informed the Lower Dir administration and the police about the development.The poster has also irked the parents who demanded of the ...
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PM Modi, Abhinandan posters come up in Pakistan MP Ayaz Sadiq’s constituency
2Nov By Joe RodriguezNo Comments
Asia

PM Modi, Abhinandan posters come up in Pakistan MP Ayaz Sadiq’s constituency

Facing severe backlash over his remarks against Pakistan Army chief, posters featuring Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) leader Sardar Ayaz Sadiq with Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Indian Air Force Wing Commander Abhinandan Varthaman came up in parts of Lahore.The posters, which dubbed him as “traitor”, went viral on social media after first being spotted in the constituency of the former National Assembly speaker.In some of the posters, Sadiq’s face was morphed to resemble Varthaman.This came days after Sadiq told the Parliament that Army Chief General Qamar Javed Bajwa was perspiring and his “legs were shaking” when Foreign Minister Shah Mahmood Qureshi said that India would have attacked “that night at 10 pm” if Pakistan did not release Abhinandan."I remember Shah Mahmood Qureshi ...
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Gilgit-Baltistan a part of India: MEA
2Nov By Joe RodriguezNo Comments
Asia

Gilgit-Baltistan a part of India: MEA

After Pakistani Prime Minister Imran Khan’s attempt to accord provincial status to Gilgit-Baltistan, India, in response, lashed out at Khan’s remarks, saying it is intended to camouflage the “illegal” occupation of the region.India “firmly rejects” the attempt by Pakistan to bring material changes to a part of Indian territory which is under Islamabad’s “illegal and forcible occupation”, Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) spokesperson Anurag Srivastava said.He also asked Pakistan to immediately vacate such areas.“I reiterate that the Union Territories of Jammu and Kashmir and Ladakh, including the area of so-called ‘Gilgit-Baltistan’, are an integral part of India by virtue of the legal, complete and irrevocable accession of Jammu and Kashmir to the Union of India in 1947,” he said.He said...
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PML-N’s decision to not invite former Baloch CM to 3rd PDM rally causes turmoil in party
2Nov By Joe RodriguezNo Comments
Asia

PML-N’s decision to not invite former Baloch CM to 3rd PDM rally causes turmoil in party

Pakistan Muslim League-N (PML-N) is in chaos right now due to its Balochistan chapter’s decision to not invite former Baloch chief minister Sanaullah Zehri to the third power show of the Pakistan Democratic Movement (PDM) on October 25.As per sources, the PML-N's decision to not invite Zehri to the Quetta rally did not go well with the leaders in the province.The president of PML-N's Balochistan chapter, retired Lt Gen Abdul Qadir Baloch, had also expressed his reservations over the hardline stance adopted by PML-N supremo Nawaz Sharif.They have stated that the PML-N's provincial leaders will announce their future course of action soon.Meanwhile, PML-N leader Ahsan Iqbal clarified that the party had decided not to invite Zehri due to a rift between the former chief minister and Balochistan...
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Imran Khan-led Pakistan govt will be sent packing by January 2021: Bilawal Bhutto
31Oct By Joe RodriguezNo Comments
Asia, USA

Imran Khan-led Pakistan govt will be sent packing by January 2021: Bilawal Bhutto

Imran Khan-led Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) government would be sent packing by January 2021, and a 'people's government' would take over, said Pakistan Peoples' Party (PPP) chairman Bilawal Bhutto Zardari while addressing a public gathering.He also pointed out that even though Gilgit-Baltistan (GB) had not yet become a separate province, the PTI government at the center had already imposed taxes on the region's people.“Today, every section of the society was protesting against the PTI government,” he asserted while addressing the gathering at the main Skardu Bazaar as part of the party's campaign for the Gilgit-Baltistan Assembly elections in November.He also declared that the campaign for the right to rule and right to property belonged to the PPP."PPP is the only party which included ...
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PIA suffers loss of Rs 250 billion since suspension of EU flights
30Oct By Joe RodriguezNo Comments
Asia

PIA suffers loss of Rs 250 billion since suspension of EU flights

Ever since the European Union and the United Kingdom suspended permission for Pakistan International Airlines (PIA) to enter its territories, the PIA has suffered a loss of a whopping Rs 250 billion.PIA’s spokesperson said that the national airlines is bearing a monthly loss of Rs 9 billion due to the suspension of its flights to Europe and the UK. The spokesperson further said that the airlines will face losses of Rs 54 billion if the suspension continues.The European Union Air Safety Agency had suspended flight operations of PIA for a period of six months from July 1 after it was revealed that the credentials of as many as 262 pilots were “dubious”.Post the revelation, Vietnam had grounded all of the 27 Pakistani pilots flying their aircrafts due to concerns about their qualifications. A...
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Turkey hiring Kashmiri separatists to tarnish India’s image globally
27Oct By Mike TrudellNo Comments
USA, World

Turkey hiring Kashmiri separatists to tarnish India’s image globally

As a part of a carefully crafted conspiracy to malign India’s image across the world, Ruwa Shah, daughter of separatist leader Altaf Ahmad Shah, in an article published in Turkish media talked about how she feels for her allegedly besieged home while staying thousands of miles away in Turkey. While sharing her views she also mentioned that children in Kashmir never had a normal life.Altaf is an accused of terror funding in a case registered in 2017 by India's National Investigation Agency (NIA). As per NIA, separatist leader Altaf Shah was found to be involved in receiving and collecting funds through illegal means, including hawala for causing disruption in Kashmir Valley by way of pelting stones on security forces, burning schools, damaging public property and waging war against India.Th...
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China appoints trade expert as new ambassador to Pakistan to help drive infrastructure development plan
23Oct By Joe RodriguezNo Comments
Asia, China

China appoints trade expert as new ambassador to Pakistan to help drive infrastructure development plan

In a bid to bring to life its multibillion-dollar infrastructure development partnership, China has appointed a trade specialist - with no formal experience as a diplomat - as its new ambassador to Pakistan.Nong Rong – the Communist Party secretary of the ethnic and religious affairs commission in the Guangxi Zhuang autonomous region – was named by the foreign ministry as the new ambassador to Pakistan.“Although Nong is not trained as a diplomat, he has experience in economic diplomacy with Southeast Asian countries,” said Wang Dehua, a South Asia specialist at the Shanghai Municipal Centre for International Studies.“The fact he headed the ethnic and religious affairs commission suggests he is capable of dealing with sensitive issues,” he said.One of Nong’s primary roles will be to promote...
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