Anti-terror partnership: Pakistan to redraft its directives of engagement
ISLAMABAD:
Pakistan has decided to scrap all existing anti-terror cooperation agreements with the United States in a development that may not only take the uneasy alliance between the two countries to the point of no return but also impede world efforts at bringing sustainable peace in Afghanistan.
The decision, which was taken after consultations at the top civil andmilitary levels following the Nato air strikes, is part of a review of political, diplomatic andmilitary ties with the US, officials familiar with the development told The Express Tribune.
NEW DEHLI: Pakistan Foreign Minister Hina Rabbani Khar on Tuesday arrived in New Delhi for talks with her Indian counterpart SM Krishna.
Khar and Krishna will meet in New Delhi to agree on confidence-building measures, such as relaxing trade and travel restrictions across the ceasefire line dividing disputed Kashmir but are unlikely to make any headway on the thorny territorial issue of Kashmir itself, or on fighting militancy.
(Read: Timeline – Pak-India talks in perspective)
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NEW DELHI: Top diplomats from India and Pakistan met Tuesday in New Delhi to prepare the ground for the first foreign minister peace talks in a year between the two countries.
Indian foreign secretary Nirupama Rao welcomed her counterpart Salman Bashir for closed-door discussions ahead of the meeting between Indian Foreign Minister SM Krishna and Pakistan’s Hina Rabbani Khar on Wednesday.
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Recent times have seen something momentous happen in the realm of social media in Pakistan. A game changer I suppose it can be called, as never before has such an opportunity been made available to the young and hopeful entrepreneurs of Pakistan.
I am not speaking of the social media summit held in Karachi last Saturday, although that too did its bit to bring together most of the ilk of social media here. I am speaking of the launch of the P@sha social fund.
Pakistan’s Taliban on Sunday denied responsibility for twin bomb blasts that ripped through a crowded market in the northwestern city of Peshawar, killing 35 people and injuring dozens.
The attack, one of the deadliest to hit Pakistan since US Navy SEALs killed Al Qaeda founder Osama Bin Laden in May, devastated the Khyber Super Market district which includes a hotel, shops and student accommodation.
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STOCKHOLM: More than 5,000 nuclear weapons are deployed around the world and nuclear powers continue investing in new weapon systems, making meaningful disarmament in the near future unlikely, a report published Tuesday said.
“More than 5,000 nuclear weapons are deployed and ready for use, including nearly 2,000 that are kept in a high state of alert,” according to a report by the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute (SIPRI).
SIPRI’s report said the world’s eight nuclear powers, Britain, China, France, India, Israel, Pakistan, Russia and the US, possess more than 20,500 warheads.
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PESHAWAR: Tehrik-e-Taliban Pakistan plans to attack American targets abroad to avenge the death of Osama bin Laden, said one of its senior leaders.
The TTP delivered on threats to avenge the killing of Osama bin Laden by US special forces in Abbottabad on May 2. It bombed an American consulate convoy, laid siege to a naval base and blew up paramilitary cadets in Pakistan.
Omar Khalid Khorasani, the top Taliban commander in Mohmand Agency, answered questions posed by Reuters and recorded them on a DVD.
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ISLAMABAD: On top of the Rs495 billion officially-sanctioned defence budget, the government has allocated an additional Rs150 billion for the armed forces, almost half of which was billed under the Armed Forces Development Programme.
A senior official of the finance ministry, citing the ‘Budget-in-Brief’ document, said the total defence and security allocation comes to around Rs645 billion, which is almost 23.8 per cent of the total budget. In addition, Rs73.2 billion would be paid from civilian accounts on army pensions – a practice initiated by Musharraf in 2000. By adding the three allocations – stated budget, contingent liabilities and army pensions – the total allocations total Rs718 billion, almost 26 per cent of the total budget.
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