KHARTOUM: Sudanese security forces killed a protester on Sunday as they cracked down on thousands marching for civilian rule, medics said, taking the number killed since last year’s military coup to at least 79. More than three months after the October 25 takeover led by General Abdel Fattah al-Burhan in the troubled northeast African country, defiant mass rallies demanding a restoration of the transition to civilian rule show few signs of abating. “Blood is the path to freedom,” flag-waving protesters chanted as they marched through the streets of Omdurman, which lies across the Nile River from the capital Khartoum. “Go…
Author: Hasnain Abid Khanzada
UNITED NATIONS: Pakistan and Iran have shown unforgettable generosity in hosting millions of Afghans, says UN Secretary General António Guterres while reminding the rest of the world to come forward and help Afghanistan. “I will never forget the generosity of countries like Pakistan and Iran, which — for decades — have hosted millions of Afghans in need,” the UN chief said at a Security Council debate on Afghanistan earlier this week. “At this moment, we need the global community — and this Council — to put their hands on the wheel of progress, provide resources, and prevent Afghanistan from spiraling…
ISLAMABAD: Pakistan and Afghanistan have decided to establish a national-level coordination mechanism for enhancing facilitation at border crossing points. The two sides have also pledged to initiate barter trade for which modalities will be worked out soon. The official announcements were made on Sunday when National Security Adviser Dr Moeed Yusuf concluded his two-day visit to Kabul where he met senior Taliban officials. During his trip, Islamabad ad Kabul also refreshed the commitments to cement their diplomatic, social and economic ties and vowed to ensure peace and stability in the two neighbouring countries. According to the Prime Minister Office (PMO),…
UNITED NATIONS: UN experts said in a new report that nearly 2,000 children recruited by Yemen’s Houthi rebels died on the battlefield between January 2020 and May 2021, and the Iranian-backed rebels continue to hold camps and courses encouraging youngsters to fight. In the report to the UN Security Council circulated, the experts said they investigated some summer camps in schools and a mosque where the Houthis disseminated their ideology and sought to recruit children fight in the seven-year war with Yemen’s internationally recognised government, which is backed by a Saudi-led coalition. The children are instructed to shout the Houthi…
DUBAI: Israel’s figurehead president met the powerful crown prince of Abu Dhabi on Sunday on the first official visit to the United Arab Emirates by the country’s head of state, the latest sign of deepening ties between the two nations as tensions rise in the region. The UAE and Israel normalised relations in the fall of 2020, part of a series of US-brokered diplomatic deals between Israel and Arab states that had long avoided formal relations with Israel over its decades-old conflict with the Palestinians. President Isaac Herzog met with Crown Prince Sheikh Mohammed bin Zayed Al Nahyan, the de facto Emirati…
The United Arab Emirates said on Monday it had intercepted a ballistic missile fired by Yemen’s Houthi movement as the UAE hosted Israel’s President Isaac Herzog in a first such visit. Washington condemned the assault, the third on US-allied UAE within the last two weeks, including a deadly strike on the capital Abu Dhabi on Jan 17, in an escalation of the Yemen war between the Houthis and a Saudi-led coalition. The Emirati defence ministry said the latest missile attack was intercepted 20 minutes past midnight and that its debris fell on an uninhabited area. It did not say whether it was…
Afghanistan’s public universities, closed since the Taliban seized power in August, will reopen in February, the Taliban acting higher education minister said on Sunday, without specifying whether female students would be able to return. Universities in warmer provinces will reopen from Feb 2, while those in colder areas would reopen on Feb 26, the minister, Shaikh Abdul Baqi Haqqani, told a news conference in Kabul. He did not say what arrangements if any would be made for female students. In the past, Taliban officials have suggested that women could be taught in separate classes. So far, the Taliban government has reopened high…
A United Nations report seen Sunday says the Taliban and its allies allegedly killed more than 100 former Afghan government members, security personnel and people who worked with international forces. The report, an advance copy of which was seen by AFP, describes severe curtailing of human rights by Afghanistan’s new fundamentalist rulers. In addition to the political killings, women’s rights and the right to protest have also been curbed. “Despite announcements of general amnesties for former members of the Government, security forces and those who worked with international military forces, UNAMA continued to receive credible allegations of killings, enforced disappearances, and…
KARACHI: A judicial magistrate has granted bail to the officer in charge of the judicial lock-up at the City Courts in a case pertaining to the escape of a suspect allegedly involved in kidnapping of two young girls for ransom in Defence Housing Authority. Zohaib Ali Qureshi, said to be the prime accused in the kidnapping of Dua Mangi and Bisma in 2019, was brought to the City Courts judicial complex on Jan 27 in connection with the hearing of his case. Two court police officials — head constable Naveed and Habib Zafar — who were reportedly escorting him back to Karachi…
ISLAMABAD: A police patrolling team came under heavy gunfire from armed robbers at Bakhral Chowk in the limits of Koral police. However, the officials remained unhurt, a police spokesperson said on Sunday. A suspect, who was injured in retaliatory fire by the police, was arrested, he said, adding that his accomplices managed to escape. According to the spokesman, a police team was busy in routine checking at Bakhral Chowk when the officials signaled two persons riding on motorcycles which did not have registration number plates to stop. However, the motorcyclists, instead of stopping, opened fire on the police personnel. Since…
