Pakistan

ISLAMABAD, Dec. 27 (Xinhua) -- Pakistan on Sunday expressed concern about the spike in violence in Afghanistan and assured help in enhancing security.

The foreign ministry said Pakistan continued to "express its deep concern at the increasing level of violence" in Afghanistan during the current year and Prime Minister Imran Khan, on several occasions, has reiterated his calls for reduction in violence leading to a cease-fire.

ISLAMABAD, Dec 27 (NNN-APP) – A Pakistani army helicopter crashed in the country’s north Gilgit Baltistan (GB) region, leaving four people, including two pilots and two soldiers killed, an army statement said early today.

The helicopter crashed yesterday, due to technical reasons, when it was evacuating body of a soldier killed earlier, to a military hospital in the GB region, the military’s media wing, Inter-Services Public Relations said, in a statement.

DAR MANGI, Pakistan (AP) — Arifullah Khan had just administered another polio vaccine when the gunfire blasted from the nearby hills.

“It happened so suddenly. There was so much gunfire it felt like an explosion,” he said, recalling details of the attack five years ago in Pakistan’s Bajaur tribal region near the Afghan border.

A bullet shattered his thigh and he fell to the ground. His childhood friend and partner in the vaccination campaign, Ruhollah, lay bleeding on the ground in front of him.

ISLAMABAD, Dec 26 (APP): The national tally of total active COVID-19 cases in Pakistan on Saturday reached 39,177 with 2,260 more people tested positive for the deadly virus and 1,531 people recovered from the Coronavirus during the last 24 hours.

Sixty-three corona patients, 56 of whom were under treatment in hospital and Seven in their respective homes or quarantines died on Friday, according to the latest update issued by the National command and Operation Centre (NCOC).

Karachi, Dec 25 (PTI) British-born al-Qaeda leader Ahmed Omar Saeed Sheikh and his three aides, whose release in the abduction and murder case of US journalist Daniel Pearl was ordered by a court here, would walk out of the prison on Saturday, police and lawyer said on Friday.

In a surprise move, a two-judge bench of the Sindh High Court on Thursday directed security agencies not to keep Sheikh and other accused under "any sort of detention" and declared all notifications of the Sindh government related to their detention "null and void".

23 Dec 2020; MEMO: Pakistan cannot and will not recognise Israel before a "concrete and permanent settlement" of the Palestinian issue is reached, the country's Foreign Minister Shah Mahmood Qureshi said on Monday.

"I categorically presented Pakistan's stance on Israel to the UAE's foreign minister that we will not and cannot establish a relationship with Israel until a concrete and permanent solution to the Palestine issue is found," Qureshi told reporters in the northeastern Multan city.

MULTAN, Dec 21 (APP): Foreign Minister Makhdoom Shah Mahmood Hussain Qureshi said that United Arab Emirate visa ban issue was temporary and it would be resolved very soon.

Pakistan enjoyed deep rooted friendly ties with United Arab Emirate, said Foreign Minister and Caretaker of Shrine of Hazrat Shah Rukknuddin Aalam, Makhdoom Shah Mahmood Qureshi after performing traditional bath “Ghusal” on occasion of 707th Urs ceremony of the great saint.

ISLAMABAD, Dec. 20 (Xinhua) -- Pakistan said Sunday that Indian forces have committed over 3,000 ceasefire violations in the year of 2020, while summoning a senior Indian diplomat to register a strong protest over a recent ceasefire violation along the Line of Control (LoC) in Kashmir region.

The Pakistani Foreign Ministry said that a 25-year-old civilian was seriously injured due to "indiscriminate and unprovoked firing" by the Indian forces in the Rakhchikri sector of the LoC on Saturday.

ISLAMABAD, Dec 20 (APP): Foreign Minister of United Arab Emirates (UAE) Sheikh Abdullah bin Zayed Al Nahyan said Pakistan-UAE close ties continued to strengthen over the past decades representing a unique case in Arab-Asian relations in the region.

ISLAMABAD, Dec 20 (APP): Describing the EU DisinfoLab’s revelations as “enormously” damaging, a European Union-based human rights activist Andy Vermaut Sunday called for lawsuit against Indian government to avert recurrence of fake news propaganda.

“This should have consequences for Indian government that has the final responsibility. The Indian government should be held accountable for this in the court,” Andy Vermaut said who is an official member of “The International Alliance for the Defence of Rights and Freedoms (AIDL) constituted by the United Nations (ECOSOC).