Daily Archives: May 11, 2019

TALKS WITH IMF TO CONTINUE OVER WEEKEND

Pakistan’s talks with the International Monetary Fund (IMF) on a bailout package remained inconclusive on Friday, dashing expectations that the government was ready to sign on the dotted line....

The reasons to be pessimistic about Indian pluralism

In 2008, the political scientist, Steven Wilkinson, published an essay titled “Muslims in Post-Independence India”. This was its conclusion: “The good news for India, and for India’s 130 million...

BANGLADESH 2ND MOST RISKY COUNTRY IN S ASIA: REPORT

Bangladesh has become the second most risky country in South Asia for displacement of people due to disasters, Internal Displacement Monitoring Centre said in a report released on Friday...

IMF EXTENDS FUNDING PROGRAMME UNTIL JUNE 2020

The International Monetary Fund (IMF) said it had decided to extend the funding programme to Sri Lanka by an additional year which would mean until June 2020. During a news...

CHINA TO SUPPORT PAKISTAN IN CRACKDOWN AGAINST HUMAN TRAFFICKERS

Ministry of Public Security of China has sent a taskforce to Pakistan to cooperate with its law enforcement agencies in their crackdown on Chinese gangs involved in fake marriages...

WAR IN AFGHANISTAN CAN BE SUSTAINED: MCMASTER

The US former National Security Adviser H.R. McMaster said Wednesday the war in Afghanistan can be sustained, but the narrative of a war-weary American public is hurting that effort. Quoted...

VIRTUSA EMPLOYEE ARRESTED OVER SUSPECTED LINKS TO ATTACKS

Sri Lankan police on Friday said they had arrested an employee of information technology services company Virtusa Corp in Colombo in connection with Easter Sunday bombings that killed more...

STAY ALERT AGAINST GOVT PROPAGANDA: FAKHRUL

BNP secretary general Mirza Fakhrul Islam Alamgir today urged his party colleagues not to get confused with the government‘s ‘propaganda’ against their party, stating that they are trying to...

US, TALIBAN MADE STEADY BUT SLOW PROGRESS IN QATAR: KHALILZAD

The US Special Representative for Afghanistan Reconciliation Zalmay Khalilzad wrapped up another round of talks with the Taliban members in Qatar where, he said, the two sides made “steady...

PROPOSED MEDIA BILL ENVISIONS A NEW PRESS COUNCIL WITH INCREASED GOVERNMENT ROLE IN NEPAL

A new Media Council bill, which aims to give sweeping powers to the self-regulatory body overseeing the press, has raised alarm as information rights activists and journalists say the...

EASTER SUNDAY ATTACKS - SUSPECT ARRESTED WITH RS.8 MN IN HIS POSSESSION

A suspect identified as Buhari Mohammed Rafik was arrested by the Slave Island Police yesterday in connection with the Easter Sunday bomb attacks, Police Spokesman Ruwan Gunasekara said today. He...

INDIAN AIR FORCE JETS INTERCEPT CARGO PLANE FLYING FROM KARACHI

Indian Air Force fighter jets forced a Georgian cargo plane flying from Karachi to New Delhi to land in the northern city of Jaipur on Friday (May 10) after...

GROWTH RATE SLUMPS TO LOWEST IN 9 YEARS

The country’s economic growth rate has slowed down to 3.3% — the lowest in nine years — in the first year of Prime Minister Imran Khan’s government, which missed...

India and France hold biggest naval exercises with an eye on China

With the aircraft carrier Charles de Gaulle at the centre, France and India on Friday (May 10) stepped up their biggest naval exercises as the Indian Ocean's strategic shipping...

Pakistan has started fencing border with Iran, Senate told

Pakistan Senate was informed on Friday that Pakistan has started fencing the border with Iran. Frontier Constabulary Commandant Moazzam Jah Ansari informed the Upper House of Parliament that Iran is...

Bhutan presents report to UN Human Rights Council

Bhutan presented its third national report to the UN Human Rights Council under the Universal Periodic Review (UPR) mechanism on May 8 in Geneva, Switzerland. In his statement to the...

Five dead as Baloch separatist gunmen attack Pakistan coal mine

At least five people have been killed in a gun and bomb attack on a coal mine in southwestern Pakistan, officials say, the latest in an uptick of violence...

Sri Lanka imposes controls on mosques after suicide bombings

The Sri Lankan government on Friday (May 10) ordered mosques to clamp down on extremists and to submit copies of sermons in new fallout from the Easter suicide bombings...

Hindu vigilantes push Rajasthan’s cow trade into decline

The cow trade at a leading cattle fair in Rajasthan, India's second-largest cattle-trading state, fell 95% over six years to 2017, an indication of the decline in cow rearing--once...

Exploiting Islamophobia is an election-winning tool in India

Many consider that the ongoing general elections in India are also a referendum on the country’s secular, pluralist future. The strategy of Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s right-wing nationalist Bharatiya...

CPEC: A positive-sum social initiative

The importance of CPEC and the relationship which is as old as time between Pakistan and China in the realm of politics, economy and strategy is a compelling truth...