Pakistan

ISLAMABAD, Nov 19 (APP): Prime Minister Imran Khan on Tuesday welcomed the release of two professors kept hostage in Afghanistan since 2016.

“Pakistan welcomes release of professors Kevin King and Timothy Weeks in Afghanistan” the PM said in a tweet.

The prime minister appreciated the steps taken by all stakeholders involved to make it possible.

Islamabad, Nov 19, GANASHAKTI:  Pakistan has resumed postal mail service with India, nearly three months after it was suspended in the wake of India's decision to end the special status of Jammu and Kashmir, the Pakistan media reported on Tuesday.

Tensions between India and Pakistan spiked after New Delhi abrogated provisions of Article 370 of the Constitution to withdraw Jammu and Kashmir's special status and bifurcated it into two Union Territories.

Islamabad, Nov 18 (PTI) Pakistan on Monday successfully test-fired a nuclear-capable surface-to-surface ballistic missile which can strike targets up to 650 kilometres, bringing many Indian cities under its range.

The test-firing of the Shaheen-I missile by the Pakistani military took place amidst Indo-Pak tensions over New Delhi revoking Jammu and Kashmir's special status.

Lahore, Nov 19 (PTI) Pakistan's ailing former prime minister Nawaz Sharif on Tuesday left for London in an air ambulance for medical treatment for multiple diseases, days after the Lahore High Court allowed him to travel abroad for four weeks and rejected the Imran Khan government's condition of furnishing an indemnity bond.

Sharif, 69, is accompanied by his younger brother Shehbaz Sharif, his personal physician Adnan Khan and other personnel.

PESHAWAR, Pakistan (Reuters) - Three Taliban commanders who are part of a prisoner swap for two Western hostages held by the militant group have landed in Qatar, three Taliban sources familiar with the deal said on Tuesday.

The Afghan government’s decision to carry out the swap is seen as key to securing direct talks with the Islamist militants, who have, until now, refused to engage with what they call an illegitimate “puppet” regime in Kabul.

ISLAMABAD, Nov 18 (APP): In Indian occupied Kashmir, the inhuman lockdown imposed by India in the Kashmir valley and parts of Jammu region entered 106th straight day on Monday (Today).

According to Kashmir Media Service , though some restrictions have been eased in most parts of the territory yet the situation is still far from normal especially in the Kashmir Valley and Muslim majority areas of Jammu and Ladakh regions where people are seething with anger over New Delhi’s anti-Kashmir moves.

ISLAMABAD, Nov. 18 (Xinhua) -- Pakistan successfully carried out the training launch of Shaheen-I, a surface-to-surface ballistic missile, the army said on Monday.

The Inter-Services Public Relations (ISPR), the media wing of the Pakistani army, said, "The launch was aimed at testing the operational readiness of Army Strategic Forces Command, ensuring Pakistan's credible maximum deterrence."

ISLAMABAD, Nov 16 (APP): Pakistan on Saturday welcomed the public hearing by Tom Lantos Human Rights Commission of the US Congress on human rights situation in the Indian Occupied Jammu and Kashmir (IOJK) wherein the lawmakers called for an independent fact-finding mission to the IOJK.

In its meeting held on November 14 at Washington DC, the Commission reinforced the internationally recognized disputed nature of the Jammu and Kashmir issue and highlighted the gross human rights violations and the humanitarian crisis in IOJK.

PESHAWAR, Pakistan/KABUL (Reuters) - A plan to swap two Western hostages with three Taliban prisoners has been postponed, an Afghan government official told Reuters on Friday, and Taliban sources said the group had moved the Westerners to a “new and safe place”.

Afghan president Ashraf Ghani said on Tuesday the government would release a leader of the Taliban’s Haqqani militant faction and two other commanders in exchange for two university professors, American Kevin King and Australian Timothy Weeks.

ISLAMABAD, Nov 14 (APP): Pakistan on Thursday strongly rejected any deal on Indian spy Kulbhushan Jadhav, saying the decision of International Court of Justice (ICJ) would be implemented in accordance with the law of land.

“Absolutely, no deal on Kulbhushan. We will honour the ICJ judgment in light of the law of Pakistan and there should be no doubt about it,” Foreign Office spokesman Dr Muhammad Faisal said here at a weekly press briefing, at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.