Headlines

ISLAMABAD: The office of International Non-Governmental Organisation (NGO) ‘Save the Children’ in Islamabad has been reopened on Wednesday after the interior ministry conditionally allowed it to work for six months. ‘Save the Children’ operations in Pakistan were halted on June 11 and its Islamabad office was sealed for its alleged involvement in anti-state activities. A statement issued by the district administration said today that the decision to reopen some of the NGO’s offices has been taken by high officials at the Ministry of Interior. Sources in the interior ministry said that 13 out 73 offices of the NGO have been allowed to operate in Pakistan except the Federally Administrated Tribal Areas (FATA), Balochista...

June 24, 2015 at 4:15 pm | News Desk

Pakistan's prime minister called for emergency measures as the death toll from a heatwave in southern Sindh province topped 450. The National Disaster Management Authority (NDMA) said it had received orders from Nawaz Sharif to undertake immediate response measures. The army has also been deployed to set up heat stroke centres and assist the NDMA, it added. Many of the victims are elderly people from low income families. Health officials say many deaths have been in the largest city, Karachi, which has experienced temperatures as high as 45C (113F) in recent days. Hundreds of patients suffering from the effects of the heatwave are being treated at government hospitals, provincial health secretary Saeed Mangnejo said. The demand for el...

June 23, 2015 at 3:11 pm | News Desk

NEW DELHI: India has placed the Catholic charity Caritas on a government watch list, an official and news reports said Tuesday, in a growing crackdown on foreign organisations operating in the country. A home ministry official told AFP that Caritas had violated India's foreign funding laws by financing groups that were working “against the country”. He said Caritas had been placed on a list of organisations needing prior government approval to receive or distribute funds in India, a move also reported by the Indian Express daily. “There was clear violation of foreign funding law,” said the official, who asked not to be named, citing funding for groups which protested against a nuclear plant in the southern state of Tamil Nadu. T...

June 23, 2015 at 2:30 pm | News Desk

TEHRAN: Iran's parliament passed a bill on Tuesday obliging the government to safeguard the country's “nuclear rights and achievements,” despite talks with global powers on curbing the Islamic republic's disputed atomic programme. The measure was met by anger from President Hassan Rouhani's government, with a spokesman saying the draft law was unconstitutional as it contravened the country's defence and security policies. The bill's adoption reflects tension between Rouhani, a moderate who aims to end Iran's diplomatic isolation, and a conservative-dominated legislature, where hardliners often dispute the worth of negotiations with the West. The bill, which still has to be signed into law by Iran's Guardian Council, says the governme...

June 23, 2015 at 2:21 pm | News Desk

Dr DAll had taken strikingly different journeys to violent extremist activity. People follow a pathway into radicalization, terrorism and terrorist organizations. Apparently the first stage involves an awareness of oppression. The second stage marks recognition that the oppression was social and therefore not unavoidable. The third stage is an impetus or realization that it is possible to act against the oppression. Ultimately, some conclude that working through or within the system to reform or improve it is not going to work and that self-help by violence is the only effective means for change. Based on an analysis of multiple militant extremist groups, there do appear to be some observable markers or stages in the processes that are c...

June 22, 2015 at 4:21 pm | News Desk

My forefathers fled to these shores with a vision of religious freedom. The right to it was purchased with blood and this fervently embraced freedom is the cornerstone of our Constitution. The words still leap off the page; though now dead, the witnesses still speak. Their thoughts are codified in the First Amendment of the Bill of Rights. The dry ink of the signatories flows like liquid satin through my veins. I champion this freedom. “Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof….” This treasure known as freedom of religion is a summation of its parts. Man is a moral agent with free will. But free will is also extended to those who choose not to celebrate nor particip...

June 22, 2015 at 4:04 pm | News Desk

ISLAMABAD: Rights activist Asma Jahangir argued in the Supreme Court on Thursday that since an amendment to the Pakistan Army Act (PAA) 1952 through the Act 2 of 2015 and Ordinance 1 of 2015 giving retrospective effect to the trials before military courts were passed subsequent to the 21st Amendment by a simple majority, the PAA was not protected under Article 8 of the Constitution which declared laws to be void if inconsistent with or in derogation of fundamental rights. A 17-judge full court headed by Chief Justice Nasir-ul-Mulk had taken up petitions challenging the appointment procedure of superior court judges under the 18th Amendment and the establishment of military courts under the 21st Amendment to try hardened terrorists. Ju...

June 19, 2015 at 1:14 pm | News Desk

Washington:The war of words between America and Russia is escalating. So, too, is the movement of implements of war -- from U.S. fighter jets to Russian nuclear weapons. So is an actual war imminent? No one in Russia, NATO or the United States has gone that far yet. Still, the rhetoric and actions from both sides have definitely ratcheted up in recent days, raising concerns of a new arms race -- if not worse -- amid tensions both sides blame on each other. The major players all claim their movements are defensive and necessary responses to their foe's provocation. None has talked of an invasion. Still, that's not what some experts are worried about. They say a bigger fear is what things can happen, accidentally, when you have in...

June 19, 2015 at 11:48 am | News Desk

BEIJING: Some local governments in China's unruly far western region of Xinjiang are stepping up controls on the Islamic faith followed by the Uighur people ahead of Ramazan, including making officials swear they will not fast. The holy month, which begins this week, is a sensitive time in Xinjiang following an uptick in deadly attacks blamed by Beijing on Islamist militants over the past three years in which hundreds have died. In recent days, state media and government websites in Xinjiang have published stories and official notices demanding that party members, civil servants, students and teachers in particular do not observe Ramazan, something that happened last year too. In Jinghe county near the Kazakh border, food safety of...

June 18, 2015 at 4:38 pm | News Desk

KANDAHAR: Afghan officials say that at least 11 members of the security forces have been killed in a Taliban assault on government buildings in an unstable district in southern Helmand province. The officials said on Thursday that four soldiers and seven police officers were killed when the insurgents overran Musa Qala ? which has shifted between government and Taliban control for years. Saqi Jan, police logistics expert in the district, said four soldiers and four police were killed in the attack, which began late Wednesday night. Earlier the spokesman for the provincial governor, Omar Zawaq, said three policemen had been killed. Jan says that police have regained control of the area around the district police headquarters afte...

June 18, 2015 at 4:29 pm | News Desk

MOSCOW: A draft contract for the delivery of four Mi-35M 'Hind E' combat helicopters has been sent to Pakistan from Russia, a source in the Russian military and technical cooperation said on Wednesday, according to a report published on TASS news agency's website. "Following the results of the talks held earlier on helicopters, which Pakistan would like to get from Russia, a draft contract on the delivery of four Mi-35M gunships has been sent to the Pakistani side. Pakistan is now studying the document," the source said. According to Russia's state arms exporter Rosoboronexport, talks between Russia and Pakistan are under way regarding the delivery of helicopters. However, Rosoboronexport declined to reveal details regarding these consult...

June 18, 2015 at 4:18 pm | News Desk

KARACHI: The Pakistan Federal Union of Journalists (PFUJ) , through their attorneys, have served legal notice on Mr Afzal Butt, a resident of Rawalpindi, for impersonating as president of Pakistan Federal Union of Journalists. A similar notice has been served on Mr Khursheed Abbasi, a resident of Karachi, for claiming to be the Secretary-General of PFUJ. The notices have been sent through Shoaib M Ashraf & Co. It has been stated in the legal notice that Mr Afzal Butt contested the election of PFUJ for 2013-15 as a candidate of President of PFUJ against Mr Rana M Azeem, wherein Mr Rana M Azeem was elected as President. Mr Butt despite his defeat impersonated as the President of PFUJ on different occasions before various forums. ...

June 18, 2015 at 3:38 pm | News Desk

ISLAMABAD: Former president Asif Ali Zardari’s speech was the main topic of discussion in both houses of parliament on Wednesday. But contrary to the advice of the ruling PML-N or even fellow opposition members from the PTI, PPP legislators seemed to put their weight behind their leader as they continued to assail the military leadership and warned them against targeting the party. The PPP lawmakers in the National Assembly, one after the other, hit out at the military’s top brass for “violating their constitutional duty”. On one occasion, a lawmaker went so far in his remarks that the speaker had to expunge them from the parliamentary record. Know more: PPP leaders back Zardari's military remarks, decide to field Bilawal for NA...

June 18, 2015 at 9:21 am | News Desk

INTRODUCTION: Investigations and other related enforcement activities including off-site and on-site surveillance and inspections are potent weapons in the regulatory arsenal of law enforcement agencies globally. Investigations are made either for detailed examinations or to find out facts. Regulatory and law enforcement agencies can effectively accomplish their statutory mandate if they exercises their investigative authority prudently and professionally. Financial and white-collar crimes have increased tremendously in recent years. Investigators and law enforcement personnel need to be well-equipped in combating such crimes. An investigator shall have the ability to elicit facts from evidences and witnesses in a fair, impartial, law...

June 17, 2015 at 5:45 pm | News Desk

KARACHI – The gunmen opened fire on the bus killing 41 people and several injured near Safoora Chowk in Karachi on Wednesday. Around eight to ten gunmen opened fire on the bus taking more than 50 passengers. One of the eye witnesses told that gunmen opened fire indiscriminately and killed 41 people traveling on bus. The gunmen managed to escaped after the incident. The whole area of Safoora Chowk gripped in high panic and fear as dead bodies hanging all around the bus. Rescue personnel shifted the victims to nearby hospitals where an emergency has been imposed. Five of the wounded succumbed to their wounds while en route to the hospital, according to rescue sources.     The News Tribe – UK-based bilingual news webs...

May 13, 2015 at 10:50 am | News Desk

MOSCOW – Moscow has started preparing supersonic heavy transport aircraft which will have ability to carry thousands of troops and tanks from one to another place at the speed of 2000 Km/h. The world has now moved towards new era of technology and development, where every country wants to take highs and advantages over the others. But Moscow has started building such aircraft with the help of which it would be able to transfer its troops and thousands of tanks in any country of the world in just seven hours. According to media reports, the heavy transport aircraft would also be able to lift the world’s heaviest tank Armata. The aircraft will be well versed with the stealth technology which helps it move without being into the ...

May 13, 2015 at 10:35 am | News Desk