Pakistan

ISLAMABAD (AP) — Much anticipated negotiations between Afghanistan’s warring parties are likely to be “contentious,” U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo warned Friday, but are the only way forward if Afghans are to find peace after decades of relentless conflict.

Pompeo made his comments en route to the Middle Eastern State of Qatar, where intra-Afghan negotiations are to begin Saturday, a day mostly reserved for ceremony before the hard task of hammering out a road map for a post-war Afghanistan begins.

ISLAMABAD (AP) — The long-awaited peace talks between the Taliban and the Afghan government’s negotiating team are to begin on Saturday in the Gulf Arab state of Qatar, the Taliban and Qatar’s foreign ministry said Thursday.

The talks — known as intra-Afghan negotiations — were laid out in a peace deal that Washington brokered with the Taliban and signed in February, also in Qatar, where the Taliban maintain a political office. At the time, the deal was seen as Afghanistan’s best chance at ending more than four decades of relentless war.

RAWALPINDI, Sep 10 (APP): Indian Army troops had again initiated unprovoked ceasefire violation (CFV) in Bedori Sector along the Line of Control (LoC) targeting civil population.

Around three innocent civilians got injured due to Indian troops firing, said an Inter Services Public Relations (ISPR) press release.

Pakistan Army troops responded effectively to Indian firing, it added.

ISLAMABAD, Sep 10 (APP): The European Union delegation to Pakistan Thursday hosted a pre-departure event at
Higher Education Commission (HEC) to honor 130 Pakistani students, who got Erasmus Mundus Joint Master Degree scholarships for 2020 for study at different EU universities.

The event, organized in collaboration with the HEC and it was the first time that Erasmus Mundus Joint Master Degree scholarship had been awarded to Pakistani students besides providing an opportunity for networking among peers and Erasmus Alumni, said a press release.

Peshwar, Sep 10 (PTI) The Khyber Pakhtunkhwa administration has announced a compensation of Rs 9 lakh for the kin of those who died after six units of the famed marble mines in Pakistan's Ziarat Ghar mountain collapsed.

The announcement came on a day four more people succumbed to the injuries, taking the death toll in Monday night's collapse to 26.

Chief Minister Mehmud Khan said on Wednesday that Rs 9 lakh would be given to the families of the deceased, while those injured would receive Rs 1 lakh.

ISLAMABAD, Sept 8 (NNN-Xinhua) — At least 11 people died and five people were injured while nine others are still missing after a rockslide incident at a marble mine site on Monday in Pakistan’s northwest tribal district of Mohmand, local media reported Tuesday.

Local media quoting rescue officials reported that following the incident, at least 25 people went missing and they have pulled out 11 bodies and five injured from the debris so far.

ISLAMABAD, Sep 5 (APP): EU Ambassador to Pakistan Androulla Kaminara Sunday said the European Union fully backed Pakistan’s efforts to overcome the socioeconomic impacts of the coronavirus pandemic and build back better for a more sustainable future.

“The COVID-19 has shaken the world unexpectedly – and we will continue to feel the socioeconomic consequences of the virus for quite a long-time. Showing solidarity with each other during the trying times is the responsibility of all of us,” she said in an exclusive interview with APP.

ISLAMABAD (AP) — Pakistan is seeking the reversal of a $5.8 billion penalty imposed by an international tribunal for denying a mining lease to an Australian company, saying that paying the fine would hinder its handling of the coronavirus pandemic.

The Reko Diq district in southwestern Pakistan’s Baluchistan province is famed for its mineral wealth, including gold and copper. Prime Minister Imran Khan’s government considers it a strategic national asset, though instead of yielding a bonanza the Reko Diq mining project may cost the country dearly.

LAHORE, Sep 05 (APP): Sun Tzu, an ancient Chinese general, military strategist, philosopher, writer, and author of the noted book ‘The Art of War,’ had said “The greatest victory is that which requires no battle.”

Founder of Pakistan, Quaid-i-Azam Muhammad Ali Jinnah in his ‘broadcast’ speech to the people of USA in February, 1948 had said that “Our foreign policy is one of friendliness and goodwill among all the nations of the world. We do not cherish aggressive designs against any country or nation.”

KARACHI, Sept 5 (NNN-AGENCIES) — Tens of thousands of people protested across Pakistan on Friday against French magazine Charlie Hebdo’s reprinting of cartoons mocking the Prophet Mohammad, chanting “Death to France” and calling for boycotts of French products.

“Decapitation is the punishment of blasphemers,” read one of the placards carried by protesters.

The cartoons sending up the Prophet Mohammad triggered outrage and unrest among Muslims around the world in 2005 when they first published by Danish newspaper Jyllands-Posten.