Diplomatic Cross

NewsDesk|Islamabad Jamiat Ulema-i-Islam-Fazl (JUI-F) chief Fazlur Rehman on Tuesday said the matter of KP-Fata merger should be presented before a tribal jirga, alleging that "the decision was not taken by the National Assembly; it was forced into doing so" . Talking to newspersons at his residence, the JUI-F leader said that the public's reaction has started to become evident. He warned against conspirators who were aiming to use the people of Fata as fuel in the future. "This is not a decision which has been made by the National Assembly (NA). It has been forced into doing so by the 'forces' which have wrung the Parliament's neck into submission," Fazl declared. He said that there was still time to take the people's opinion on the merger and to "consider their wishes". Referring to the PTI's sit-in staged in Islamabad, he remarked that "those who staged a sit-in for 120 days in the federal capital could not tolerate...

Islamabad |WebDesk  Cobrapost  Sting Operation 136 expose Major India outlets and Media Houses Including Hindustan times, Zee News, India Today, Indian Express, Times of Inda, Sting, Money Lobbying for Sectarian Violence. Days after Cobrapost, a website that is known for sting operations, ran a detailed series on how several media outlets in India were allegedly ready to strike deals with the right-wing to promote the Hindutva agenda ahead of the 2019 General Elections, the accused media houses responded to the allegations. Two months ago, the first series of stings, known as Operation 136, was released. Part 2 of the series was recently published, which shows how the heads of these media houses alleged agreed to polarise voters before the 2019 General Election. Cobrapost released 49 videos that were shot by its undercover reporter Pushp, who called himself 'Acharya Atal'. For the sting, the reporter  approached the media h...

Lebanese foreign minister Gebran Bassil warned Saturday that a recent Syrian property law could prevent thousands of refugees from returning home. The law would allow the Syrian government to seize private property - while only paying compensation under certain circumstances. Foreign minister Gebran Bassil of Lebanon warned that the real estate legislation passed in Syria in early April could dispossess hundreds of thousands of Syrian refugees and leave them permanently displaced in Lebanon.  "The inability for the displaced to prove ownership in the provided timeframe could cause them to lose their property and dispossess them of one of their main incentives to return to Syria", Bassil said in a letter to his Syrian counterpart. The new law, known as Decree 10, allows the Syrian government to seize private properties for reconstruction projects and compensate proven owners with shares in the new projects, AFP reports. Once an area is declared a ...

AFP|28May 2018 POOL/AFP / Thibault Camus A Malian migrant who scaled a Paris apartment block to save a four-year-old child was hailed Monday as an "example" by President Emmanuel Macron, who welcomed him to the presidential palace and offered him citizenship. Two days after his daring rescue -- viewed millions of times online -- Mamoudou Gassama, nicknamed "Spiderman" by French media for his astonishing climbing ability, met Macron in the splendour of the Elysee Palace. "You have become an example because millions of people have seen you. It is only right that the nation be grateful," Macron told the 22-year-old, adding that his immigration status would be "put in order". However several aid groups accused the president of "political exploitation", "hypocrisy" and covering up a harsh policy towards migrants. Macron, who presented him with a medal for bravery, also offered him a job wit...

Dawn | May 28, 2018 Facebook Count Twitter Share     The name of a former Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI) chief, retired Lt Gen Asad Durrani — who recently co-authored a book with former Research & Analysis Wing (RAW) chief Amarjit Singh Dulat — will be placed on the no-fly list, Inter-Services Public Relations (ISPR) announced on Monday. The statement followed Durrani's summoning to General Headquarters (GHQ) on Monday to "explain his position on views attributed to him" in the book, titled The Spy Chronicles: RAW, ISI and the Illusion of Peace. The release of the book has sparked accusations of treachery against the former spy chief after his candid views on various matters of regional and global concern came under intense public scrutiny. "The competent authority [has been] approached to place his [Durrani] name on the Exit Control List," army spokesperson Maj Gen Asif Ghafoor announced on Monday via Twitter. He added ...

The Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf (PTI) on Sunday, 20 May presented its agenda to be completed within the first 100 days of government, if the party is elected to power. The agenda includes Strengthening the Federation, Transformation in governance, Revitalization of economic growth, Ensuring the country's national security, Revolutionizing social services and Uplifting agriculture and conserve water. The country most political parties i.e. PPP, PML-N, ANP, QWP, JUI etc. had mocked the programme and termed the PTI’s agenda mere rhetoric. I will not keep the criticism of major political parties in my discussion but will just ask a question that what is your plan for next general elections 2018? Instead of criticism on PTI agenda, bring your own better agenda to the nation. Anyhow in democracy, political parties criticize one another for political point scoring. I want to focus on one point among them which is “Revitalization of Economic Growth” which was presented by Asad...

Emboldened by the American embassy’s recent relocation to occupied Jerusalem al-Quds, Tel Aviv is now pressing the US administration to recognize the occupied side of Syria’s Golan Heights as Israeli territory. In an exclusive interview with Reuters on Wednesday, Yisrael Katz, Israel’s intelligence minister, said the subject is “topping the agenda” in talks with Washington, which has already recognized Jerusalem al-Quds as the “capital” of Israel and moved its embassy from Tel Aviv to the occupied Palestinian city. He also claimed that America’s recognition of Israel’s annexation of occupied Golan would serve as a message of warning to Iran and bolster the latest wave of anti-Iran efforts by the US administration under President Donald Trump. Israel is deeply angered by Iran’s military advisory assistance to Syrian armed forces in their operations against the terrorist groups, which have the backing of Tel Aviv and its allies. “This is the perfect time to make...

The decision by US President Donald Trump to cancel the summit with North Korean leader Kim Jong-un is “not in line with the world’s wishes,” the government in Pyongyang has announced. Kim has made the “utmost efforts” to hold a summit with Trump, said the North Korean first vice minister for foreign affairs, Kim Kye-gwan, according to the state news agency KCNA. The meeting between two leaders was scheduled for June 12 in Singapore. Pyongyang is “still willing to resolve issues with the United States,” the official said, holding onto the hope that the meeting could still be rescheduled Our goal and will to do everything for peace and stability of the Korean peninsula and mankind remains unchanged, and we are always willing to give time and opportunity to the US side with an open mind,” Kim Kye-gwan said. “We reiterate to the US that there is a willingness to sit down at any time, in any way, to solve the problem.” Trump canceled the planned summit on Thursday morning, citing “tre...

President Trump on Thursday pulled out of a highly anticipated summit meeting with Kim Jong-un, accusing the North Koreans of bad faith and lamenting that “this missed opportunity is a truly sad moment in history.” The president made his announcement in a remarkably personal, at times mournful-sounding letter to Mr. Kim, North Korea’s leader, in which he cited the North’s “tremendous anger and open hostility” in recent public statements as the specific reason for canceling the meeting. Mr. Trump said later that the meeting, which had been scheduled for June 12 in Singapore, could still happen, and North Korea issued a strikingly conciliatory response, saying it hoped Mr. Trump would reconsider. But Mr. Trump also renewed talk of military action against the North and vowed to keep pressing economic sanctions, guaranteeing that for now, at least, his unlikely courtship of Mr. Kim will give way to a more familiar cycle of threats and tension.

 Just eight days in the completion of its term, the 14th National Assembly of Pakistan made history on Thursday by passing the 31st Constitutional Amendment Bill of 2018 paving the way for the merger of Federally Administered Tribal Areas (FATA) with Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province. As many as 229 members voted in the favour of the bill, presented in the House by Law Minister Chaudhary Mahmood Bashir Virk. There were 11 votes cast against the bill that was approved clause by clause. On Friday (today), the bill will be tabled in the upper House of the Parliament. With the amendment to the constitution, FATA will get 16 general and five reserved seats – four for women and one for non-Muslims – in the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Assembly. The election on these seats will be held within a year of the upcoming general elections. Since the region will no longer remain under federal administration, the constitutional amendment bill will lead to a reduction in the number of seat...

آج قبائلی عوام کے لیے تاریخ ساز دن تھا ،اج کے دن دنیا کے سامنے ایک بڑا جھوٹ بے نقاب ہوگیا۔اج کے دن پاکستان کے حکمرانوں اور ملٹری اسٹبلیشمنٹ نے اپنے کی ہوئی گناہوں کا کفارا آدا کیا.قبائلی عوام کو آئنی سٹیٹس دیے کر پاکستان کے حکمرانوں نے عوام کے سامنے ثابت کردی کہ دہشت گرد قبائلی نہیں تھے ،وہ دہشت گردوں کے جو ہم باتیں کرتے تھے وہ ہم تھے ،غدار قبائل نہیں تھے ،جن غداروں کے ہم بات کرتے تھے وہ ہم تھے۔آئین کے نہ ماننے والے قبائلی نہیں تھے وہ پاکستان کے حکمران تھے ۔جن محب وطن کے ہم بات کر رہے تھے ،وہ قبائل تھے، ہم نہیں تھے۔اج کا دن اس لئے بھی اہم تھا کہ پاکستان کے قانون ساز وں نے اپنے کی ہوئی گناہوں کا کفارا آدا کردئے ۔                                                                  لیکن! یہ کفارا تب صحیح طور پر قبول ہوگا جب یہ اصلاحات عملی طور پر نافذالعمل ہوجائے ،یہ کفارا تب قبول ہوگا جب فاٹا کے عوام کے قانون تک ر...

  Express Tribune Islamabad-Web-Desk Over 60 people have died due to the heatwave in Karachi, Edhi Foundation head Faisal Edhi said while quoting relatives of the deceased. Express Tribune-Edhi said that the number of bodies in their mortuaries in Korangi area has tripled, while in Sohrab Goth, the flow has doubled since Saturday – the day the heatwave hit the metropolis. He told The Express Tribune that more than 160 bodies have been reported at the two mortuaries, with the relatives of 60 claiming heatstroke to be the cause of death. “On normal days, the Korangi mortuary receives six or seven bodies, whereas the last few days have seen 20 to 25 bodies per day. The flow at the Sohrab Goth facility has doubled from 20 bodies to 40 in a single day,” he added. The ages of the deceased range from 16 years to 78 years and they include both men and women. According to Edhi, people should avoid going outside during the peak heat hours and must maintain their electrolytes. ...

Xinhua- Nepali Minister for Culture, Tourism and Civil Aviation Rabindra Adhikari (Front L) and Chinese Ambassador to Nepal Yu Hong (Front R) attend a launching ceremony of an interactive tourism website in Chinese language in Kathmandu, capital of Nepal, May 21,2018. Nepal on Monday launched an interactive tourism website, the first of its kind, in Chinese language to attract more Chinese tourists.  Web-Desk slamabad -- Nepal on Monday launched an interactive tourism website, the first of its kithe nd, in Chinese language to attract more Chinese tourists. Amid a function attended by government officials, tourism professionals and Chinese community, Nepali Minister for Culture, Tourism and Civil Aviation Rabindra Adhikari launched a customized website www.welcomenepal.cn which is an initiative of Nepal Tourism Board, the main tourism promotion body, to communicate in Chinese language. The website comprises information on various tourism destinations of Nepal, photos and vid...

AFP| The Taliban warned Kabul residents on Monday to avoid “military centres” in the heavily fortified city, saying they are planning more attacks in the Afghan capital where civilians have long borne the brunt of casualties. The militant group has issued such warnings to civilians before, including during a failed attempt to take the western city of Farah last week, but it is believed to be the first time they have singled out Kabul. The United Nations has said the capital — where the Islamic State group is also stepping up attacks — is already the deadliest place in the country for civilians. The Taliban said they were planning more attacks on “the enemy's military and intelligence centres” as part of an annual spring offensive “Therefore, to avoid civilian casualties and only cause damage to enemy military, we are asking Kabul residents to keep away... we don't want even a single innocent civilian to be killed,” said a statement published online. In r...

‘The US can’t decide for the world:’ Rouhani rejects Pompeo’s Iran demands DC-Web Desk-Iranian President Hassan Rouhani has rejected demands made of Tehran by US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, vowing to continue “our path,” insisting that the era when the US could “decide for the world” is over. The US government has regressed 15 years, back to “Bush Jr.’s era” and is once again trying to dictate its will on the entire world, Rouhani said as he rejected Washington's Monday ultimatum. Who are you to decide for Iran and the world? The world today does not accept America to decide for the world, as countries are independent ... that era is over ... We will continue our path with the support of our nation,” Rouhani said, as quoted by ILNA news agency. Pompeo’s speech signaled a huge step back for the whole foreign policy of the US, Iranian Foreign Minister Javad Zarif said on his Twitter page. “US diplomacy sham is merely a regression to old habits: imprisoned by delusio...

 Raheb Homavandi / Reuters Tehran will struggle to “keep its economy alive” if it does not comply with a list of 12 US demands, including Iranian withdrawal from Syria, Secretary of State Mike Pompeo vowed on Monday. Speaking at the Heritage Foundation, a right-wing Washington think tank, Pompeo laid out a list of 12 “basic requirements” for Iran. The demands call on Iran to withdraw from Syria, "release all US citizens," end support for Houthi rebels in Yemen, stop “enrichment" of uranium, and promise never to process plutonium. Iran must also allow "unqualified access to all nuclear sites throughout the country," Pompeo said. He promised that the US would impose the "strongest sanctions in history" if Iran failed to comply with these demands. Demands from #Iran , Pompeo: •Close heavy water reactors •Allow IAEA inspectors everywhere •End ballistic missile  •Release US citizens  •End support to Hezbollah, Hamas, IJ...