Tag Archives: Pakistan

MNA International Desk: Soon after issuing a list bearing the name of Dawood Ibrahim as a designated terrorist along with his address in Karachi and details of his passports, Pakistan on Saturday denied his presence on its soil. It said there is no admission that Dawood Ibrahim is in Pakistan. Pakistan had issued a list of UN-designated terrorists and entities who will be subject to “assets freeze, travel ban and arms embargo” as per the United Nations Security Council resolution that Islamabad has to adhere to. In a notification, Pakistan said, “As of August 18, 2020, the ISIL (Da’esh) and ...

MNA International Desk: Pakistan wants strong relations with Bangladesh, cricketer turned politician Imran Khan said on behalf of the people and government of Pakistan. Pakistan desires to further strengthen its relations with Bangladesh based on the principles of mutual respect and understanding, Prime Minister Imran Khan has said. “Our two countries have common aspirations for regional peace, prosperity and development and these commonalities provide a firm foundation upon with we can build the edifice of our cooperation in the years to come,” he said. He made the remarks while greeting his Bangladeshi counterpart Sheikh Hasina on the occasion of the ...

MNA International Desk: Turkish president Tayyip Erdogan on Friday said he would help Pakistan stay off a terrorism financing blacklist at a meeting of a global finance watchdog, a move he suggested would counter “political pressure” from Islamabad’s critics. The Financial Action Task Force (FATF), which tackles money laundering, told Islamabad late last year that it could face blacklisting if it continued to apply inadequate controls over terrorism financing. The FATF is meeting next week in France, and support from Turkey and longtime allies like China, Malaysia and Saudi Arabia could help Pakistan remain off the blacklist. A minimum of ...

MNA Business Desk: Amid strained bilateral relations between New Delhi and Islamabad, the trade between the two countries continued to suffer, but still mostly skewed in India’s favour in the first half of 2019-20. The latest data issued by the State Bank of Pakistan shows that bilateral trade volume plunged in the first half of this fiscal year. Pakistan’s exports to India during the period came in at an insignificant $16.8 million as compared to $213m in first half of 2018-19. Meanwhile, imports from India also fell to $286.6m as against $865m in the same period. As a result, Pakistan’s ...

MNA International Desk: India and Pakistan signed an agreement on Thursday allowing Indian pilgrims to cross the border to a Sikh shrine in Pakistan, rare cooperation between the nuclear-armed rivals at a time of tension and clashes elsewhere on their frontier, reports Reuters. The pact will introduce visa-free access from India to the Pakistani town of Kartarpur, home to a temple that marks the site where the founder of Sikhism, Guru Nanak, died. “Today is a day of celebration,” Pakistani foreign ministry spokesman Mohammad Faisal told a signing ceremony in Kartarpur. Prime Minister Imran Khan will formally open the border ...

MNA International Desk: India and Pakistan are set to sign an agreement on Indian pilgrims visiting a Sikh shrine in Pakistan, rare cooperation between the nuclear-armed neighbours at a time of tension that has brought exchanges of fire on their disputed border. The pact will introduce visa-free access from India to the Pakistani town of Kartarpur, home to a temple that marks the site where the founder of Sikhism, Guru Nanak, died. India’s foreign ministry said in a statement late on Monday an understanding had been reached on most issues and India was prepared to sign the agreement on Wednesday. ...

MNA International Desk: Pakistan would not use nuclear weapons first, Prime Minister Imran Khan said on Monday, amid tensions with arch-rival India after New Delhi revoked the special status of its part of the disputed Kashmir region. “We both are nuclear-armed countries. If these tensions increase, the world could be in danger,” Khan said, addressing members of the Sikh religious community in the eastern city of Lahore. “There will be no first from our side ever,” he said. The foreign ministry’s spokesman subsequently said on Twitter that the comments were being taken out of context and did not represent a ...

MNA International Desk: India on Thursday urged Pakistan to review its decision to downgrade diplomatic ties over the withdrawal of special status to Kashmir, the foreign ministry said in a statement. Pakistan said it would expel India’s ambassador in Islamabad and that its envoy who was to start his assignment soon will not move to Delhi after India revoked the special privileges to Kashmir, Reuters reported. “The Government of India regrets the steps announced by Pakistan yesterday and would urge that country to review them so that normal channels for diplomatic communications are preserved,” the Indian foreign ministry said.

MNA International Desk: Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s plan to change the status of Kashmir ran into fierce opposition from China and its ally Pakistan on Tuesday as the disputed territory lay under a telecoms blackout to forestall protests for a second day. In a move to tighten its grip on Jammu and Kashmir, parts of which are claimed by Pakistan and China, India dropped a constitutional provision that allowed the country’s only Muslim-majority state to make its own laws. The changes imposed by Modi’s Hindu nationalist-led government are the most sweeping in the nearly 30 years that India has ...

MNA International Desk: Law enforcers of Pakistan have arrested Asif Ali Zardari, a former president of the country and co-chairman of the Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP), from his residence in Islamabad on Monday. A 15-member team of Pakistan’s National Accountability Bureau (NAB), accompanied by police personnel, arrested Zardari after the Islamabad High Court (IHC) rejected an application seeking extension in the pre-arrest bails of him and his sister Faryal Talpur in the fake accounts case. A number of party workers and Zardari’s children Bilawal and Aseefa saw him off as the former president was driven away in a black Landcruiser. ...

MNA Science & Technology Desk: Facebook has deleted 712 accounts and 390 pages in India and Pakistan for “inauthentic behavior”, it said on Monday, many linked to India’s opposition Congress party days before a national election, and others related to Pakistan’s military. Facebook has come under increasing pressure around the world to ensure its social media platform is not abused for political purposes or to spread misinformation. The action against accounts with alleged links to Congress, the party led by the Gandhi family that has dominated Indian politics for much of its post-independence era, marks a bold move by Facebook. ...

MNA Editorial Desk: India, we all must agree, is the most important and most powerful neighbour and ally of Bangladesh. Even before our inception in 1971, India had play some crucial roles in the liberation, restoration, development and progression of Bangladesh. Especially in South Asia, no country can ignore the importance of India and its economy not only due to its vastness and power but also for its significant development in terms of matching with the modern world. Hence, the government and its orientations are very important for the neighbouring countries as we are standing at less than a month ...

MNA International Desk: Pakistan authorities have arrested dozens of suspects, including brother of the leader of the outlawed Jaish-e-Mohammad group, that India has blamed for the February 14 suicide bombing in Indian Kashmir, said Interior Ministry. The attack killed at least 40 troops. That bombing last month triggered a dangerous escalation that last week pushed Pakistan and India close to an all-out war over Kashmir. In Tuesday’s statement, the ministry says 44 suspects were arrested, including prominent members of the outlawed militant group. Among those arrested was Mufti Abdul Rauf, the brother of the group’s leader, Masood Azhar, reports AP. ...

MNA International Desk: The United States said on Sunday it was trying to find out if Pakistan used US-built F-16 jets to down an Indian warplane, potentially in violation of US agreements, as the stand-off between the nuclear-armed Asian neighbors appeared to be easing. Pakistan and India both carried out aerial bombing missions this week, including a clash on Wednesday that saw an Indian pilot shot down over the disputed region of Kashmir in an incident that alarmed global powers and sparked fears of a war. A Pakistan military spokesman on Wednesday denied Indian claims that Pakistan used F-16 jets. ...

MNA Editorial Desk: Indian airstrike in Pakistani territory killed 300 suspected militants, a senior Indian government source said on Tuesday, according to Reuters. The strikes on a training camp run by a Pakistani-based militant group have dramatically escalated tensions between the nuclear-armed neighbours, who have fought three wars against each other. The Indian Air Force launched air strikes on terror camps and launch pads across the Line of Control in Pakistan-occupied Kashmir at 3.30am, India Today reports. Sources in the Indian Air Force said 1,000 kg bombs were dropped on Jaish bases across the LoC by multiple jets, including the ...

MNA Editorial Desk: Denying any involvement in the Pulwama terror attack in which 40 soldiers were killed by a suicide bomber, Pakistan Prime Minister Imran Khan said Pakistan will retaliate if India attacks. “All this ‘attack Pakistan’ talk is all keeping elections in mind. But if at all these are serious, please make note of one thing clearly – Pakistan will not think of retaliating, it will retaliate,” he said on Tuesday. This is Imran Khan’s first statement on the Pulwama attack, the worst-ever terror strike on security forces in Kashmir. Pakistan based Dawn adds: Imran Khan said Islamabad will ...

MNA Lifestyle Desk: A Pakistani university is rebranding Valentine’s Day as “Sister’s Day”, and debating marking the holiday widely seen as a Western import by handing out headscarves and shawls to its female students. The University of Agriculture in Faisalabad (UAF), in central Punjab province, said the change was taken to promote “eastern culture and Islamic traditions among the youth”. “In our culture, women are more empowered and earn their due respect as sisters, mothers, daughters and wives,” UAF vice chancellor Zafar Iqbal is quoted as saying on the institution’s website. “We were forgetting our culture, and Western culture was ...

MNA International Desk: Pakistan’s Supreme Court will on Tuesday begin a review of its own acquittal of a Christian woman charged with blasphemy, a verdict that sparked days of Islamist protests and threats and chaos across the country. Asia Bibi, who spent eight years on death row, has been in hiding since the Supreme Court freed her in October, with religious hardliners calling for her death and putting pressure on the government to prevent her from leaving the country. Most reviews of Supreme Court verdicts are dismissed immediately, but the politically sensitive nature of the case has added an extra ...

MNA Feature Desk: The 48th Victory Day is being observed on Sunday, marking the most precious day when the country was liberated from the Pakistani occupation forces after a nine-month-long bloodstained War of Liberation. Forty-seven years back on December 16 in 1971, Bangladesh was born as an independent country under the leadership of Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman. President Abdul Hamid and Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina have issued separate messages on the occasion. Special prayers will be offered in mosques, temples, churches, pagodas and other places of worship seeking divine blessings for the peace and progress of the country. Destitute children ...

MNA International Desk: Pakistan reacted angrily Monday to criticism by President Donald Trump that the country had not done enough in return for years of US military aid and that the government had harboured Osama bin Laden, the leader of al-Qaida. In an interview with “Fox News Sunday” this weekend, Trump defended his decision early this year to withdraw hundreds of millions of dollars in security aid to Pakistan. “I ended it because they don’t do anything for us, they don’t do a damn thing for us,” he said. Trump also alleged that the Pakistani government had known bin Laden ...

MNA Sports Desk: Bangladesh U-18 Women’s team Pakistan by 17-0 goals at the Changlimithang Stadium in Thimphu, Bhutan on Sunday evening to reach the semifinal of the maiden SAFF U-18 Women’s Championship from Group B. They led the first half by 8-0 goals. Siraj Jahan Shopna made double hat-trick scoring seven goals in the 10th, 30th, 44th, 62nd, 73rd , 76th and 90th minute minutes, Marzia made hat-tricks scoring four goals in the 7th, 13th, 22nd, and 71st minute while Sheuly Azim struck twice in the 32nd and 69th minute respectively, reported news agency. Besides, captain Mishrat Jahan Mousumi, Akhi ...

MNA National Desk: Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina on Wednesday expressed delight over Bangladesh’s victory against Pakistan in the ongoing Asia Cup Cricket. “I extend my heartfelt congratulations to my cricket team for today’s victory against Pakistan,” she told journalists in New York in her instant reaction after the Bangladesh’s win in Abu Dhabi. “I pray that the trend of victory that they initiated is continued,” she added, reported news agency. Bangladesh moved into the final of the 14th edition of the six-nation continental tournament as they defeated two-time champions Pakistan by 37 runs in a virtual semifinal at the Sheikh ...

MNA Sports Desk: Experienced batsman Shoaib Malik hit a six and a boundary to pull off a sensational last over three wicket win for Pakistan against a spirited Afghanistan in the Asia Cup in Abu Dhabi. Malik pulled the second ball of the final over by paceman Aftab Alam over the deep square leg boundary and then whacked the next to deep fine leg for a boundary as Pakistan pulled off a nerve-wracking win in 49.3 overs at Sheikh Zayed Stadium. Pakistan, cashing a stiff 258-run target, were home and dry to start the Super Four Stage with a much ...

MNA Sports Desk: Having survived against Hong Kong, India came back with a near-perfect bowling performance to register their most contented chase against arch-rival Pakistan with 126 balls remaining. Going through a patch of uninspiring performances, the bowlers returned with a thorough show, exposing Pakistan’s hardly-used middle order, which showed its lack of experience of batting through 50-over innings by going for big shots every time they were tied down. Bhuvneshwar Kumar returned to form after 35.2 wicketless overs in ODIs, and Kedar Jadhav’s return to the side – that cushion of the sixth bowler – showed just what India ...

MNA Sports Desk: Former champions Pakistan thrashed an inexperienced Hong Kong by eight wickets in a one-sided match to open their Asia Cup campaign in style on Sunday. Pakistan’s bowling attack was too hot to handle for Hong Kong in Dubai as Usman Shinwari finished with 3-19 and Hasan Ali took 2-19, while leg-spinner Shadab Khan managed 2-31 to bowl Hong Kong out for 116 in 37.1 overs. Pakistan then completed the chase comfortably for the loss of opener Fakhar Zaman (24) and Babar Azam (33), while Imam-ul-Haq finished on 50 not out after just 23.4 overs. It proved another ...

MNA Business Desk: The US military said it has made a final decision to cancel $300 million in aid to Pakistan that had been suspended over Islamabad’s perceived failure to take decisive action against militants, in a new blow to deteriorating ties. The so-called Coalition Support Funds were part of a broader suspension in aid to Pakistan announced by president Donald Trump at the start of the year, when he accused Pakistan of rewarding past assistance with “nothing but lies & deceit.” The Trump administration says Islamabad is granting safe haven to insurgents who are waging a 17-year-old war in ...

MNA International Desk: Pakistan’s new prime minister Imran Khan was sworn in at a ceremony in Islamabad on Saturday, ushering in a new political era as the World Cup cricket hero officially took the reins of power in the nuclear-armed country, reported news agency. The ceremony at the President’s House in the capital marks the end of decades of rotating leadership between the ousted Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) and the Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP), punctuated by periods of army rule. A tearful Khan, clad in a traditional black sherwani, smiled as he stumbled over some of the words of the ...