Severe winter weather has struck parts of Afghanistan and Pakistan, with heavy snowfall, rains and flash floods that left at least 48 people dead, officials said Monday as authorities struggled to clear and reopen highways and evacuate people to safer places. In Pakistan, where 30 people were reported killed, much …
Read More »Indian Navy deploys its sole aircraft carrier to the Arabian sea
The Indian Navy has deployed its sole aircraft carrier to the Arabian Sea to keep an eye on a joint military drill between China and regional rival Pakistan. The INS Vikramaditya, with a fleet of MiG-29K fighter jets on board, has arrived to monitor large nine-day naval exercise ‘Sea Guardians …
Read More »Death toll in Pakistan mosque bombing rises to 15
The death toll from the bombing of a mosque in the southwestern Pakistani city of Quetta rose to 15 on Saturday, officials said, in an escalation of militant violence. An improvised explosive device ripped through the mosque during Friday evening prayers, killing 13 people and wounding more than 20, police …
Read More »6 soldiers reportedly killed in heavy border fire exchange in Kashmir.
Troops from India and Pakistan have exchanged heavy fire and mortar shelling along the restive Line of Control (LoC) that divides Kashmir between the two countries, with a total of six soldiers reportedly killed from both sides. The Pakistani armed forces said two of their soldiers were killed and one …
Read More »Pakistan lecturer sentenced to death for blasphemy
Junaid Hafeez, 33, was arrested in March 2013 and accused of posting derogatory comments about the Prophet Mohammed on social media. Allegations of blasphemy are taken very seriously in Pakistan, and even an accusation is often enough to make someone a target for hardliners. Mr. Hafeez’s first lawyer, Rashid Rehman, …
Read More »Pakistan released Poisonous Gas to pollute Delhi’s air, Indian politician claims
Delhi’s record-breaking air pollution may be the result of a covert chemical attack by Pakistan, an Indian politician has claimed, insisted that his airtight theory should be “seriously” considered. “There is a possibility that poisonous gas could have been released by any neighboring country which is afraid of us,” Meerut …
Read More »India to divide Kashmir to tighten grip on the restive state.
India will formally split up disputed Jammu and Kashmir state into two federal territories on Thursday, aiming to tighten its grip on the restive region that has been in the grip of a harsh security clampdown for nearly three months. Street protests against the measures have erupted sporadically, while militants …
Read More »19 dead as powerful earthquake hits Pakistan
A strong 5.8 magnitude tremor has hit the Pakistani capital Islamabad and other cities in the eastern Punjab province, leaving at least 19 people dead and 300 injured, officials said. The earthquake was also felt in Lahore, Peshawar and Pakistan-administered Kashmir, with people rushing into the streets in case of …
Read More »Backlash against Modi as Indian PM ‘endorses Trump for 2020’
Narendra Modi, India’s prime minister, has been accused of “interfering” in the next US presidential election after he gave a speech in Texas that critics say tacitly endorsed Donald Trump for re-election in 2020. Mr. Modi made the comments as he appeared onstage alongside the US president during a rally …
Read More »Pakistan to send its 1st astronaut to space by 2022, says country’s tech minister
Pakistan’s technology minister has confirmed that the country will be sending its first astronaut to space within the next three years, with the assistance of China. In an interview Sunday, Minister Fawad Chaudhry said that the selection process will begin in 2020 as Pakistan and its partner China commence preparations …
Read More »Opinion: My son is one of Kashmir’s ‘disappeared’. When will India tell the truth about their fate?
Kashmir is under siege. Up to 10,000 people have been victims of enforced disappearance, including my son Javaid The Eid this year was like no other. We could not even offer the obligatory sacrifice because of the total siege by India of Kashmir. When my son Yasir went to fetch …
Read More »Pakistan warns of genocide in Kashmir, expects no talks with India.
Pakistan’s foreign minister told the United Nations human rights forum on Tuesday that India’s military presence in the disputed Muslim-majority territory of Kashmir raised the specter of genocide. India, which stripped Kashmir of its autonomy on Aug. 5, in response accused Pakistan of “offensive rhetoric..of false allegations and concocted charges” …
Read More »Pakistan, India officials discuss Sikh border crossing amid Kashmir tensions.
Pakistani and Indian officials are meeting on Wednesday to finalize a draft agreement for the opening of a border crossing to allow Sikh pilgrims from India to cross easily into Pakistan and visit a shrine there, AP reported. The meeting on the Indian side of the land border at the …
Read More »Iraqi Judiciary Issues Life Sentence against Pakistani ISIS Member.
The Supreme Judicial Council of Iraq announced that Rusafa Central Criminal Court had issued a life sentence against Daesh convict of Pakistani origin over terrorism charges. The council said on Thursday that the criminal court issued a life sentence against a terrorist holding the Pakistani nationality after he admitted offering …
Read More »‘500 incidents of protests in Kashmir lockdown’
Hundreds of incidents of protest have erupted in Indian-administered Kashmir since the government of Prime Minister Narendra Modi stripped the Muslim-majority Himalayan region of its autonomy and imposed a security clampdown more than three weeks ago. A senior government source told media outlets on Wednesday that at least 500 protests …
Read More »Pakistan may close airspace to India: science minister.
Prime Minister Imran Khan is considering closing Pakistan’s airspace to India and blocking its eastern neighbor’s land trade route to Afghanistan, the science and technology minister in Islamabad said on Tuesday. Pakistan reopened its airspace to India in mid-July, having closed it in February after an attack by a Pakistan-based …
Read More »Indian opposition leaders refused entry to Kashmir.
A group of Indian opposition party leaders who had traveled from New Delhi to Indian-controlled Kashmir on Saturday was refused entry into the regional capital on Saturday. The delegation of opposition leaders, led by the Indian National Congress’ Rahul Gandhi, said they were flying to the territory’s capital to “assess …
Read More »Pakistan to UNICEF: Drop Priyanka Chopra.
Pakistan has demanded that Indian actress Priyanka Chopra be stripped of her UNICEF Goodwill Ambassador role, saying that her “support for war” and the Indian government amid heightened tensions in the disputed region of Kashmir make a “mockery” of the position. In a letter addressed to UNICEF Executive Director Henrietta …
Read More »India’s Opposition Parties Protest, Demand Release of Kashmir Leaders.
Indian opposition leaders claimed that Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s regime is stifling democracy in Kashmir, during a rally in New Delhi on Thursday. They also demanded the release of political leaders under detention in the region. Opposition leaders have held a rally in New Delhi in support of two former …
Read More »Two killed in first Kashmir gun battle since lockdown began.
Clash in Baramulla the first to be reported by officials since India revoked the region’s autonomy and imposed a curfew. Two people, including a police official and a rebel, have been killed in a gun battle in Indian-administered Kashmir, police said. The clash in Baramulla district’s Ganie-Hamam area on Wednesday …
Read More »