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Imran Khan demands early elections, says ‘Abbasi should seek fresh mandate’

September 24, 2017September 24, 2017 News Desk

Criticising the ruling party on several fronts, Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf (PTI) Chairperson Imran Khan on Sunday demanded that Prime Minister Shahid Khaqan Abbasi seek a fresh mandate by holding early elections. “This is necessary for a democracy,” the PTI leader said during a press conference in Islamabad. “In order to save and strengthen the democracy, you [PM Abbasi] should move towards elections. Seek the people’s mandate.” During the press conference, Khan criticised the ruling party on several fronts, stating that the country’s foreign affairs were being affected. ‘Endangering Pakistan’ Khan said…

New legal restraints in Norway decrease the trends of marriage from Pakistan, Says Norwegian Pakistani Lawyer Ahsan Rasheed

September 24, 2017September 24, 2017 News Desk

Interview by Syed Sibtain Shah Due to the new legal constraints, there is a significant decrease in the interest of Norwegian Pakistanis in marriage from Pakistanis. There are also many other reasons in the context which are including changing trend of young generation of Pakistanis in Norway, the increasing distance between the two cultures and the varying traditions of the two countries. These analytical views were expressed by Norwegian Pakistani legal consultant Ahsan Rasheed Advocate, who is highly educated in the law from Britain. He was exclusively interviewed by the…

Firing rockets at US inevitable after ‘mentally deranged’ Trump’s UN speech: North Korea

September 24, 2017 News Desk

North Korea’s foreign minister assailed United States President Donald Trump at the United Nations on Saturday, deriding him as a “mentally deranged” leader whose threats had increased the chances of military confrontation. Ri Yong-ho told the General Assembly that Trump’s vow to “totally destroy” his country if necessary had made “our rockets’ visit to the entire US mainland all the more inevitable.” Describing Trump as a “mentally deranged person full of megalomania,” Ri said the US leader who “holds the nuclear button” posed “the gravest threat to international peace and security today.”…

‘India mother of terrorism in South Asia,’ Maleeha Lodhi tells UN

September 24, 2017September 24, 2017 News Desk

Pakistan’s Permanent Representative to the United Nations Maleeha Lodhi said that India is the mother of terrorism in South Asia, reported the state-run radio service on Sunday. In her response to the allegations of terrorism levelled against Pakistan by India’s External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj in her address at the UN General Assembly session in New York, Lodhi said India is using terrorism as a state policy. Exercising the right of reply to an earlier speech, Lodhi accused Swaraj of “indulging in an orgy of slander against Pakistan.” On Saturday, Sushma Swaraj in her…

Pakistan’s Envoy Shafqat Ali for close academic ties with Eastern Europe specially Poland

September 23, 2017September 23, 2017 News Desk

WARSAW: Pakistan’s Ambassador in Warsaw emphasized the importance his country attached to its relations with Poland that was a key player in the Central and Eastern Europe. In as exclusive interview with Geo News in Warsaw, Mr Shafqat Ali Khan referred to the dramatic progress Poland had made during the last decade in political and economic fields and expressed satisfaction at the positive trajectory of growth in Pakistan-Poland bilateral relations. Ambassador Shafqat Ali Khan who got his higher education from King College, London, Quaid-i-Azam University, Islamabad and Uppsala University, Sweden, joined…

Shahzad dropped, Wahab back in squad for Test series against SL

September 23, 2017September 23, 2017 News Desk

Wahab Riaz has been added back to the team for the, Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) chief selector Inzamam-ul-Haq said when he announced the squad for the Test series against Sri Lanka in a press conference on Saturday. Meanwhile, Ahmad Shahzad and Mohammad Rizwan have been dropped from the team. Inzamam announced a 16-member squad for the two-Test series against Sri Lanka that starts on Sept 28. Pakistan team: Sarfraz Ahmed (c), Azhar Ali, Shan Masood, Sami Aslam, Babar Azam, Asad Shafiq, Haris Sohail, Usman Salahuddin, Yasir Shah, Mohammad Asghar, Bilal…

Way paved for Nawaz Sharif to again head PML-N

September 23, 2017September 23, 2017 News Desk

ISLAMABAD: The Senate on Friday passed an election bill after rejecting a key amendment proposed by the Pakistan Peoples Party to retain a controversial clause resurrected by retired Gen Pervez Musharraf through the Political Parties Order 2002, paving the way for an otherwise ineligible Nawaz Sharif to head his own faction of the Pakistan Muslim League. The Election Bill 2017 was passed with a majority vote by the Senate through which the legal bar on a person to serve as an office-bearer of a political party if he is either…

22-year-old lieutenant martyred in attack on Rajgal valley border: ISPR

September 23, 2017September 23, 2017 News Desk

A lieutenant was martyred in a terrorist attack on the Pakistani border in Rajgal valley, an Inter-Services Public Relations (ISPR) press release said on Saturday. The press release said the Pakistani post was attacked from the other side of the border. Lieutenant Arsalan Alam, the commanding officer of the post got hit and was killed. He was 22 years old. The Pakistan Army recently concluded Operation Khyber IV in the Rajgal valley and declared that the area was cleared off terrorists. However, Director General ISPR, Major Asif Ghafoor had said…

Media spreads hatred against Muslims, Says A Norwegian Intellectual

September 23, 2017September 23, 2017 News Desk

News Desk A noted Norwegian intellectual and writer has accused media for spreading hatred against Muslims. Mr Øyvind Strømmen was giving a lecture on a topic of extremism at Literature House Oslo last Sunday. The lecture was arranged by Norwegian Pakistani literary organisation, “Adbi Sangat Norway” (Literary Friendship Norway). The organisation’s General Secretary Faisal Nawaz Chaudhary introduced his organisation and also talked about the purpose of the gathering. Criticizing the role of media, the Norwegian intellectual said, by playing negative role the media creates hatred in the society. He divided…

Iran’s Rouhani vows to strengthen missile capabilities despite US warnings

September 22, 2017September 22, 2017 News Desk

Iran’s President Hassan Rouhani vowed on Friday that Iran would boost its missile capabilities despite warnings from Washington that it is ready to ditch a landmark nuclear deal over the issue. His comments came as Iran displayed a new missile at a military parade marking the anniversary of the outbreak of its devastating 1980-1988 war with Saddam Hussein’s Iraq. “Whether you like it or not, we are going to strengthen our military capabilities which are necessary for deterrence,” Rouhani said in a speech broadcast live on state television. “We will…

Pilgrims bring boom times for Iraqi gem traders

September 22, 2017September 22, 2017 News Desk

Every time Mohammed al-Ghoraifi visits Najaf he returns with another precious stone on his finger. Like for many pilgrims visiting the Iraqi Shiite holy city, buying a gemstone ring is part and parcel of the experience. Ghoraifi, sporting two weighty rings on the right hand and a third on the left on his latest visit, said they formed only a modest part of his collection. The collection may have cost him a small fortune, but “the stones have enormous value, whatever the cost”, said the 60-year-old pilgrim from Bahrain, wearing…

Fresh fires, bomb blast in Myanmar’s Rakhine

September 22, 2017 News Desk

Twenty homes caught fire and a bomb was detonated near a mosque in Myanmar’s Rakhine state, the government said on Friday, the latest unrest in a region that has seen hundreds of thousands of Rohingya Muslims flee in under a month. The violence comes days after Myanmar’s civilian leader Aung San Suu Kyi declared that the military had ceased its “clearance operations” in the border area. The army claims it is trying to flush out Rohingya militants who attacked police posts on August 25. But civilian refugees streaming into Bangladesh…

Pakistan won’t be a ‘scapegoat’ in Afghan war, PM Abbasi tells UN General Assembly

September 22, 2017September 22, 2017 News Desk

Pakistan refuses to be a “scapegoat” for Afghanistan’s bloodshed or to fight wars for others, Prime Minister Shahid Khaqan Abbasi told the United Nations on Thursday. Addressing the UN General Assembly, Abbasi did not explicitly criticise US President Donald Trump’s new strategy on Afghanistan and South Asia but made clear his displeasure with the renewed onus on Pakistan. “Having suffered and sacrificed so much due to our role in the global counterterrorism campaign, it is especially galling for Pakistan to be blamed for the military or political stalemate in Afghanistan,” Abbasi said.…

International Community should take immediate notice of situation in IHK, Says Ali Raza Syed

September 22, 2017 News Desk

Kashmir Council Europe (KC-EU)’s Chairman Mr Ali Raza Syed has urged the International Community to take immediate and serious notice of severe situation in the occupied land of Jammu and Kashmir (IHK). Addressing a seminar in Geneva Mr Ali Raza Syed said, the extrajudicial killing of Kashmiris specially killing of people during the peaceful protest and using pellet guns on the innocent protesters is a usual matter in IHK. Seminar was arranged by Protection of Women and Children Right headed by Kashmiri leader Syed Faiz Naqshbandi. International Community should…

London police arrest two more men linked to London Underground attack

September 21, 2017September 21, 2017 News Desk

Two men were arrested on Wednesday over last week’s London Underground terror attack in which 30 people were injured, bringing the total number of people in custody to five, police said. The men, aged 48 and 30, were arrested under anti-terrorism legislation in Newport in Wales, police said in a statement, after a 25-year-old man was arrested in the same city on Tuesday. “This continues to be a fast-moving investigation,” Dean Haydon, head of counter-terrorism at London’s Metropolitan Police, said in the statement. “We now have five men in custody and searches…