Pakistan

ISLAMABAD (AP) — Taliban and U.S. negotiators are scrambling to rewrite a draft agreement that will outline the withdrawal of American and NATO troops from Afghanistan and a verifiable Taliban guarantee to fight terrorism ahead of an all-Afghan peace conference Sunday.

Officials familiar with the talks, but not authorized to speak about them, say negotiations went late into the night on Wednesday and were to resume again on Thursday — the sixth day of direct talks between the insurgents and U.S. envoy Zalmay Khalilzad.

ISLAMABAD, Jul 03 (APP): Special Assistant to Prime Minister on Information and Broadcasting Dr Firdous Ashiq Awan said on Wednesday that Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz decision to change chairman of Public Accounts Committee and appoint a new parliamentary leader was in fact no trust in the leadership of Shahbaz Sharif.

ISLAMABAD, Jul 1 (APP): Special Assistant to Prime Minister on Information and Broadcasting Dr Firdous Ashiq Awan said on Monday that Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz neither had any narrative nor any leadership.

In a tweet, the Special Assistant said that Rana Sanaullah’s confession of rebellion was proof of cracks in the PML- N political camp.

She said that the meeting of PML- N MPAs from Punjab with the Prime Minister was in fact revolt against the dictatorial approach and imperialistic mindset of PML- N leadership as they were not ready for slavery of a family.

ISLAMABAD, Jun 30 (APP): Pakistan’s young pace sensation Shaheen Shah Afridi on Saturday became the youngest ever player to take four wickets in a World Cup match.

Shaheen Afridi got wickets of Gulbadin Naib, Hashmatullah Shahidi, Najibullah Zardan and Rashid Khan to finish with bowling figures of 4/47 in World Cup match against Afghanistan at Headingley on Saturday, a private news channel reported.

ISLAMABAD, Jun 30 (APP): Pakistan’s Muhammad Hamza Khan won under 15 title of Asian Junior Individual Squash Championship 2019 at Macau on Sunday.

According to information received here, Hamza, who lost the first set to Malaysia’s Joachim Chuah Han Wen, came back strongly to win next three sets 11-7, 12-10 and 11-7 to annex the summit title in 48 minutes battle.

ISLAMABAD (AP) — The Taliban said Sunday that the latest round of peace talks with the United States is “critical” as the two sides “rewrite” a draft agreement in which American forces would withdraw from Afghanistan in exchange for guarantees from the insurgents that they would fight terrorism.

ISLAMABAD, Jun 28 (APP): Pakistan on Friday rejected a report of the U.S. Department of State on International Religious Freedom and said the report’s segment on Pakistan was a compendium of unsubstantiated and biased assertions.

As a matter of principle, Pakistan does not support such national reports making observations on the internal affairs of sovereign States. Pakistan, therefore, rejects these observations, the Foreign Office in a statement issued here said.

ISLAMABAD (AP) — A fresh round of talks between the U.S. and the Taliban is to begin in Qatar Saturday, just days after U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said Washington is hoping for an Afghan peace agreement before Sept. 1.

Suhail Shaheen, spokesman for the Taliban’s political office in Doha, told The Associated Press that the Taliban’s negotiating team was set to open talks with U.S. peace envoy Zalmay Khalilzad. He has been in the region for several weeks meeting a legion of regional and Afghan officials, including Afghan President Ashraf Ghani.

ISLAMABAD, June 25 (Xinhua) -- Two policemen were killed and four others injured when some unknown insurgents fired at a police vehicle in Pakistan's northwest Nowshera district, local media reported Tuesday evening.

The policemen were on their routine patrol in the city when their vehicle was attacked by the assailants in the country's Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province, the reports said.

ISLAMABAD, June 24 (Xinhua) -- Pakistan on Monday strongly condemned attack on Saudi Arabia's Abha airport, which resulted in one death and injuries to eight others.

Pakistan Ministry of Foreign Affairs said the country reiterates its full support and solidarity with the brotherly Kingdom of Saudi Arabia against any threat to its security and territorial integrity.

A Syrian resident was killed, while eight civilians were wounded in an apparently drone attack that hit the parking area of the airport on Sunday.