Browsing Tag: News

KARACHI: Pakistan hockey team thrashed hosts Bangladesh 7-0 in the opening match of the Asia Cup at Dhaka Maulana Bhashani Stadium on Friday.

Youngster Abu Bakar had a huge role in the lopsided win as he scored a hat-trick for his side.

“We have had a very good start as the players have a really strong bond on and off the field, which has helped a great deal,” Pakistan captain Muhammad Irfan told The Express Tribune. “The head coach trained us really well, and the boys have responded.”

He further said that the team is looking forward to carry their winning momentum in the second fixture against Japan, who were beaten 5-1 by India in their opening match.

“Japan did score a goal against India, which is a strong team so we will have to be at our best to keep a clean sheet,” he added.

Japan has yet to secure even podium finish at the Asia Cup, though they have finished fourth four times.

This will be the fifth meeting between the two countries in Asia Cup, where Pakistan has won three and lost just one.

Japan’s lone victory came at the 2007 Asia Cup in Chennai, where they triumphed 3-1 against the Greenshirts.

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Hours after security forces recovered a US-Canadian couple and their three children who were captured from Afghanistan in 2012, a top US delegation appreciated and acknowledged Pakistan Army’s contributions and the country’s sacrifices in War on Terror.

A US delegation comprising senior director for South Asia Lisa Curtis, Ambassador Alice G Wells and Ambassador David Hale, among other representatives called on Chief of Army Staff General Qamar Javed Bajwa on Thursday, the Inter-Services Public Relations (ISPR) said.

The delegation briefed the army chief on contours of US strategy in South Asia, the communiqué said.

“Discussion focused on regional security situation including Afghanistan and how Pakistan has positively contributed towards peace and stability in the region,” the statement read.

Pakistan Army recovers US-Canadian family abducted in Afghanistan in 2012

The COAS, the ISPR added, highlighted Pakistan’s concerns regarding peace and stability in the region.

“He reiterated that Pakistan has done its best despite constraints and shall continue its efforts for the sake of the future of Pakistan and in line with aspirations of Pakistani people.”

Pak-US ties for Afghan peace stressed

Earlier, the visiting team also met Foreign Secretary Tehmina Janjua at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in Islamabad.

The US delegation emphasised the importance of reinvigorating the bilateral relationship with Pakistan in order to achieve common objectives of peace and stability in Afghanistan as well as in the region.

The two sides agreed to continue bilateral engagements at all levels, according to a statement.

Reiterating Pakistan’s stance for a politically negotiated settlement owned and led by Afghans, the foreign secretary reaffirmed Pakistan’s constructive participation in all regional and bilateral mechanisms aimed at pursuing a peaceful solution to the Afghan conflict.

The US delegation was also informed on the recent visit by Pakistani officials to Kabul with a view to intensify engagement and addressing mutual concerns particularly border management and repatriation of refugees.

Highlighting Pakistan’s ongoing law enforcement and counter-terrorism campaign, Janjua apprised the US delegation of Pakistan’s efforts in eliminating terrorism from the Pakistani soil. Pakistan’s concerns on continued attacks from across the border were also shared.

The US delegation was informed about the atrocities and human rights violations being committed by the Indian forces in the Indian Occupied Kashmir (IoK) resulting in hundreds of casualties.

It was noted that persistent Indian refusal to engage with Pakistan despite repeated overtures for a comprehensive dialogue was adversely impacting regional stability.

The government has been under increased pressure from Washington to crack down on alleged militant sanctuaries inside its borders after US President Donald Trump lambasted the country in a televised address in August.

Pakistan, as part of the war on terror, has been battling militancy since years, with hundreds of soldiers and militants killed in the fighting.

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PARIS: The United States said Thursday that it was pulling out of the UN’s culture and education body, accusing it of “anti-Israel bias” in a move criticised by the head of the Paris-based organisation.

Following years of tension at UNESCO, which is in the process of electing a new director-general, US State Department spokeswoman Heather Nauert announced that Washington planned to withdraw.

“This decision was not taken lightly, and reflects US concerns with mounting arrears at UNESCO, the need for fundamental reform in the organisation, and continuing anti-Israel bias at UNESCO,” she said in a statement.

The United States — one of the body’s founding members — has withdrawn once before under president Ronald Reagan, who quit in 1984 over alleged financial mismanagement and anti-US bias in some of its policies.

President George W Bush announced America’s return in 2002, but relations soured again in 2011 when Washington pulled the plug on funding to the body after its members voted to admit Palestine as a full member.

Washington opposes any move by UN bodies to recognise the Palestinians as a state, believing that this must await a negotiated Middle East peace deal.

But President Donald Trump’s administration is also reviewing many of its multilateral commitments, pursuing what he calls an “America First” policy.

Israel slams UNESCO over ‘Occupied Jerusalem’

The head of UNESCO, Irina Bokova, voiced “profound regret” over the decision, calling it a “loss to multilateralism”.

“At the time when conflicts continue to tear apart societies across the world, it is deeply regrettable for the United States to withdraw from the United Nations agency promoting education for peace and protecting culture under attack,” she said.

In a statement, Bokova said that “despite the withholding of funding, since 2011, we have deepened the partnership between the United States and UNESCO, which has never been so meaningful.”

UNESCO, which is best known for producing the list of World Heritage sites that includes the Grand Canyon and other US attractions, has been the scene of diplomatic flare-ups in recent years after Arab countries succeeded in passing a number of resolutions critical of Israel.

In May this year, Israel was infuriated by a resolution identifying Israel as “the occupying power” in the divided of city of Jerusalem and calling on it to rescind any move changing the city’s “character and status”.

The text denounced “all legislative and administrative measures and actions taken by Israel, the occupying power, which have altered or purport to alter the character and status of the Holy City of Jerusalem.”

Trump tells Netanyahu he’ll recognise Jerusalem as Israel’s ‘undivided’ capital

In July, the agency again delighted Palestinians when it declared the Old City of Hebron in the occupied West Bank an endangered World Heritage site.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu called the vote “another delusional decision” by UNESCO, which promotes education, cultural development and free media initiatives around the world.

The agency’s board members are set to vote this week to elect a new director-general, with candidates from Qatar, France and Egypt in a three-way race for the position.

Washington said it would establish an “observer mission” to replace its representation at the agency.

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LONDON: Tottenham Hotspur received an injury boost as long-term absentees Danny Rose and Erik Lamela returned to first-team training, the Premier League club said on Wednesday.

Beating Dortmund ‘massive’ for confidence: Pochettino

England international defender Rose picked up a serious knee injury in January, while attacking midfielder Lamela has not played for Tottenham since October 2016 due to a hip injury, as the Argentinian underwent surgery on both hips earlier this year.

No plan to rest Kane: Pochettino

Midfielders Victor Wanyama and Mousa Dembele are still sidelined for Tottenham, who host Bournemouth at Wembley in the league on Saturday.

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WASHINGTON: As President Donald Trump prepares to decide on certifying the Iran nuclear deal, the White House has come to see a rapidly escalating standoff with North Korea as both a complicating factor and a cautionary tale.

By the close of business Friday, Trump is expected to declare that a landmark agreement curbing Iran’s nuclear program is no longer in the US interest. That would not kill the deal outright, but it would pass that decision on to Congress – a gambit full of risk for the greater Middle East. During months of debate about regional repercussions from Aden to Kabul, indeed, since the hours after Trump was elected, a gathering storm with North Korea has weighed heavily.

North Korea’s technology much better than Pakistan’s: Dr Qadeer

When Trump met president Barack Obama for the first time on November 10, 2016, the outgoing leader had an ominous warning for the president elect. Sitting feet from each other in the storied Oval Office, Obama told Trump he would face a fateful decision on North Korea in the first months of his presidency. Trump would have to decide whether to allow Kim Jong-Un to develop the capability to nuke almost any city in the continental United States. Presidents from Obama back to George Bush Sr. had tried inducements and coercion to prevent North Korea from breaking through a series of ominous proliferation thresholds.

But year after year, as the Kim dynasty passed through three generations, North Korea marched ever closer to mastering what Winston Churchill once called the “lights of perverted science.” Pyongyang covertly separated plutonium, withdrew from the nuclear non-proliferation treaty, and developed a medium-range ballistic missile that could hit Alaska or Hawaii. It perfected an atomic bomb. By November 2016, US intelligence believed that Pyongyang would – in a matter of months rather than years – be able to marry intercontinental ballistic missile technology with the ability to produce a miniaturized thermonuclear device, putting the United States within reach.

The United States had three basic choices: military action, diplomacy or acceptance. According to aides familiar with the Oval Office conversation last November, Obama felt he had conveyed the gravity of the situation to the neophyte president. Trump came away feeling like such a serious a situation should have been dealt with long ago.
“Look, this should have been taken care of by four or five previous administrations,” Trump told Forbes recently. “I feel strongly you cannot allow him to have nuclear weapons.”

Under Trump’s tough-guy doctrine, an unbending message to Iran would make North Korea take notice. But several White House officials described the choice in more historical terms. They have come to believe that tackling Iran today offers an opportunity akin to that which was squandered with North Korea a decade or more ago. Getting tough on Tehran, they argue, affords Trump a chance to prevent a foe from developing nuclear weapons and jamming the next president with a litany of bad choices. Proponents of the deal argue there is no evidence Tehran is breaching the deal, so it remains the best way to prevent an Iranian bomb.

For them too, North Korea looms large. “There would be no more crippling a blow to the prospects for a peaceful outcome with North Korea than walking away from the Iran deal,” Ned Price, a spokesperson for Obama’s National Security Council who spent a decade at the CIA, recently wrote. They argue that Washington’s willingness to risk an agreement it signed barely two years ago – which Iran seems to be adhering to – and which is still strongly supported by longstanding European allies, sends a terrible message to Pyongyang. One of the deal’s diplomat-architects, Wendy Sherman, argued North Korea would conclude it is futile to talk to Washington.

UK ‘preparing for war with North Korea’

“We are likely to lose any possibility of dialogue with North Korea because Pyongyang will assume the United States will not honor its commitments, even on multilateral agreements,” she wrote. Whether supporters of the Iran deal or its detractors are correct, Trump’s decision looks set to reverberate beyond the Middle East and all the way to the Korean Peninsula.

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LAHORE: Visually-impaired individuals continued their protest for the third consecutive day on Wednesday to demand permanent employment in government departments.

Dozens held their demonstration at Kalma Chowk on Main Ferozepur Road and blocked the track of the Lahore Metro Bus service. They chanted slogans against the Punjab government and demanded prompt implementation of the quota system in government recruitments.

‘We do not accept this’: Students protest CSS results in Multan

Angry protestors lay down on the metro bus track which resulted in partial suspension of operations and caused severe traffic jams on Ferozepur Road and at Garden Town, Gulberg Main Boulevard and other adjoining areas.

Speaking to The Express Tribune, a visually-impaired protester, Karamat Malik, highlighted he and his peers were struggling for permanent employment for many years. “Ministers and government officials always make false promises and send us back whenever we take to the streets.

Published in The Express Tribune, October 12^th, 2017.

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YANGON: Rohingya Muslims are not native to Myanmar, the army chief told the US ambassador in a meeting in which he apparently did not address accusations of abuses by his men and said media was complicit in exaggerating the number of refugees fleeing.

Senior General Min Aung Hlaing gave his most extensive account of the Rohingya refugee crisis aimed at an international audience in the meeting with Ambassador Scot Marciel, according to a report posted on his Facebook page.

‘The army is killing them’: Rohingya in Pakistan fear for relatives in Myanmar

The general is the most powerful person in Buddhist-majority Myanmar and his apparently uncompromising stance would indicate little sensitivity about the military’s image over a crisis that has drawn international condemnation and raised questions about a transition to democracy under Nobel laureate Aung San Suu Kyi.

The military campaign is popular in Myanmar, where there is little sympathy for the Rohingya, and where Buddhist nationalism has surged.

Min Aung Hlaing, referring to Rohingya by the term “Bengali”, which they regard as derogatory, said British colonialists were responsible for the problem.

“The Bengalis were not taken into the country by Myanmar, but by the colonialists,” he told Marciel, according to the account of the meeting posted on Thursday.

“They are not the natives, and the records prove that they were not even called Rohingya but just Bengalis during the colonial period.”

The UN human rights office said on Wednesday Myanmar security forces had brutally driven out half a million Rohingya from northern Rakhine state to Bangladesh, torching their homes, crops and villages to prevent them from returning.

Coordinated Rohingya insurgent attacks on some 30 security posts on August 25 sparked a ferocious military response. The UN rights office said in its report, based on 65 interviews with Rohingya who had arrived in Bangladesh that abuses had begun before the August 25 attacks and included killings, torture and rape of children.

Myanmar ‘to provide aid’ to displaced Rohingya inside country

US Ambassador to the United Nations Nikki Haley last month denounced what she called a “brutal, sustained campaign to cleanse the country of an ethnic minority” and called on countries to suspend providing weapons to Myanmar until its military puts sufficient accountability measures in place.

The European Union and the United States are considering targeted sanctions against Myanmar’s military leaders, officials familiar with the discussions said this week.

Suu Kyi is due to make a speech on television later on Thursday. She was swept into office last year after winning an election, but the military holds immense power, including exclusive say over security.

‘Feel insecure’ 

UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Zeid Ra’ad al Hussein has described the government operations as “a textbook example of ethnic cleansing” and said the action appeared to be “a cynical ploy to forcibly transfer large numbers of people without the possibility of return”.

Min Aung Hlaing did not refer to such accusations, according to the published account, but said the insurgents had killed 90 Hindus and 30 Rohingya linked to the government.

Insurgents’ opposition to a citizenship verification campaign, which used the term Bengali, was behind the attacks, he said.

“Local Bengalis were involved in the attacks under the leadership of ARSA. That is why they might have fled as they feel insecure,” he said, referring to the Arakan Rohingya Salvation Army insurgents.

UN expects up to 300,000 Rohingya refugees

“The native place of Bengalis is really Bengal,” he said. “They might have fled … assuming that they would be safer there.”

He said it was an exaggeration to say the number fleeing to Bangladesh was “very large” and there had been “instigation and propaganda by using the media from behind the scene”.

He did not elaborate, or say how many people he thought had fled, but said the “real situation” had to be relayed to the international community.

UN political affairs chief Jeffrey Feltman is due to visit Myanmar on Friday.

Min Aung Hlaing repeated a promise from Suu Kyi that refugees would be accepted back under an agreement with Bangladesh in the early 1990s, adding that details were being worked out.

Many refugees doubt their chances of going home fearing they will not be able to prove their right to return.

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LAHORE: The Lahore High Court (LHC) on Wednesday accepted the apology of the Punjab chief secretary in a contempt petition for not complying with the court orders in connection with the demolition of two shops in Toba Tek Singh.

Punjab Chief Secretary Zahid Saeed appeared before the court of Justice Muhammad Ameer Bhatti where he tendered his unconditional apology. The court, accepting his apology, warned of initiating contempt proceedings against him if he again failed to appear before the court.

JuD chief’s detention: LHC judge annoyed over interior secy’s absence at hearing

The court directed the chief secretary to submit within two-week a compliance report about an order of the LHC being flouted since 1986.

Previously, the court had expressed serious concerns over the absence of the chief secretary despite repeated notices and issued his warrants. The judge had observed the conduct of the chief secretary tantamount to undermining the authority of the court. The judge had ordered him to appear in person to explain as to why the court orders were not being complied with.

Taj Din, a resident of Toba Tek Singh, had moved a contempt petition seeking action against the local district administration for not allotting him an alternative property against his shop demolished by the government.

Misconduct proceedings: LHC judge objects to being probed by ‘under-trial’ judge

The petitioner was a tenant of a seven-marla plot of district council on which he had constructed a shop. He submitted that the LHC also decided the case in his favour in 1986, however, since then he had been waiting for the implementation of the order.

Published in The Express Tribune, October 12^th, 2017.

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LAHORE: Continuing his diatribe against Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) Chairman Imran Khan, Punjab Chief Minister Shehbaz Sharif said his political rival is the reason behind the delay in the Orange Line Metro Project.

The chief minister said that Imran first bashed the Punjab government for introducing metro bus project. “Later, he had to face embarrassment after announcing a metro bus for Peshawar.” He added that despite the passage of four years, not a brick has been laid for the Peshawar metro project.

Rs112m tax exemption for OLMT affected people

Shehbaz said the Punjab government would complete mega projects other than the Orange Line Project which had been brought to a halt through court stays obtained by the PTI chief.

Replying to another question, he said that the Punjab government would take its projects in the next election. “Nothing succeeds like success,” he added. About the uproar against the IB investigation controversy, he said that the report was fake and that should sum up the entire controversy.

Meanwhile, the Punjab government has purchased 60 ultasound machines with an aim to train lady health workers at a training centre being set up in Sheikhupura.

The objective of training health workers is to reduce maternal and newborn mortality rates in the province, said Punjab Chief Minister Shehbaz Sharif.

He was speaking at an agreement signing ceremony held between General Electric (GE), their local partner Ferozsons and the Punjab government to establish a training centre for lady health workers.

The chief minister said 700 more of these portable ultrasound machines would be procured by February 2018.

Sharing details of the agreement, Shehbaz said that lady workers would be trained to operate a new ultrasound machine. He added they would be able to take these machines to the remote areas of the province for checkups.

SC reserves verdict in Orange Line Metro Project case

Speaking on the occasion, Secretary Health Ali Jan Khan said two types of training would be provided at the training centres – one for master trainers and second for lady health workers. He added that the master trainers would spread out to 36 districts and give training to lady health workers. Khan said it was a portable and cost-effective solution for ultrasounds. “No technician would be required to operate this machine. Many females, who are reluctant to visit hospitals for such checkups, will benefit greatly from this project.”

Another meeting was held earlier on Wednesday under the chairmanship of Punjab Chief Minister Shehbaz Sharif. The meeting discussed extending mutual cooperation between Punjab government and UK’s DFID and Public Health to strengthen the ongoing reforms programme of health sector.

The British delegation was led by Chief of Basic Services Group of the DFID Dr Ruth Lawson.

Speaking on the occasion, Shehbaz said that a comprehensive programme has been started to provide quality healthcare facilities to the people. A special attention is being paid to enhance and improve the capacity of the health sector institutions.

The chief minister said the Public Health Agency has been established and the role of this new institution was important to provide prior information about the spread of different diseases along with devising a comprehensive system for their treatment and eradication.

He said that DFID is providing support to the Punjab government in education, healthcare and skill development. The Punjab government would welcome the technical assistance of the DFID to make the Punjab Public Health Agency commensurate with the latest needs and trends. “We don’t require resources, rather we need expertise and skills and further improvements will be brought in the health sector through technical assistance of DFID and Public Health team of the UK.”

Published in The Express Tribune, October 12^th, 2017.

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