Days after Imran Khan’s visit, US approves sales to support Pakistan’s F-16 fighter jets
NEW DELHI: Days after the meeting between President Donald Trump and Pakistani Prime Minister Imran Khan, the Pentagon notified the Congress on Friday of its decision to approve military sales worth USD 125 million that would result in 24×7 end-use monitoring of the F-16 fighter jets of Pakistan. US officials asserted that the freeze in […]
No such request made by Narendra Modi: Jaishankar on Donald Trump’s claim
NEW DELHI: Amid a massive controversy over US President Donald Trump’s claim on Kashmir mediation, India Tuesday said Prime Minister Narendra Modi never made any such request to the US leader and reiterated that Kashmir is a bilateral issue. External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar said in Rajya Sabha that all outstanding issues between India and […]
US lawmaker apologises for Donald Trump’s “embarrassing” claim on Kashmir
WASHINGTON: An influential Democratic Congressman on Tuesday apologised to India’s US envoy for President Donald Trump’s “embarrassing” remarks on Kashmir, while several others came out in support of New Delhi’s established stand against any third-party role on the issue. “I just apologised to Indian Ambassador Harsh Shringla for Trump’s amateurish and embarrassing mistake,” Congressman Brad […]
Trump claims Modi asked him to mediate in the Kashmir dispute between India and Pakistan
WASHINGTON: US President Donald Trump has offered to mediate the decades-long Kashmir dispute between India and Pakistan, a move that signals a shift in long-standing US policy that the issue must be solved bilaterally. “If I can help, I would love to be a mediator,” Trump said at the White House on Monday, where he […]
IMF urges Pakistan to mobilise domestic tax revenue
By Lalit K Jha WASHINGTON: The IMF has urged Pakistan to mobilise domestic tax revenues to provide for the social and development spending and place debt on a downward trend. The statement of International Monetary Fund (IMF) Acting Managing Director David Lipton came after he met Prime Minister Imran Khan who is on a three-day […]
Pakistan receives four international bidders for shipment of LNG
By Sajjad Hussain ISLAMABAD: Energy-starved Pakistan has received four bids from international bidders for the shipment of Liquefied Natural Gas for a 10-year period, officials said on Friday. Pakistan LNG Limited (PLL), a government entity mandated to procure Liquefied Natural Gas (LNG), floated a tender in June inviting international suppliers to make offers to bring […]
Pakistan increases land allotted to Kartarpur Gurdwara from 3 to 42 acres
LAHORE: Pakistan will allot 42 acres of land for the Gurdwara Darbar Sahib in Kartarpur, up 14 times, Punjab governor has announced while indicating that 80 per cent of the work on the landmark Kartarpur Corridor has been completed, according to a media report. The corridor will connect Darbar Sahib in Pakistan’s Kartarpur with Dera […]
Pakistan reopens airspace for all civilian traffic; Indian flights to operate soon
NEW DELHI: Pakistan opened its airspace for all civilian traffic on July 16 morning, sources said, effectively removing the ban on Indian flights that were not allowed to use majority of its airspace since the Balakot air strikes in February. The move is expected to give a major relief to Air India, which suffered a […]
International arbitration court imposes USD 5.97 billion penalty on cash-strapped Pakistan
ISLAMABAD: In a jolt to cash-strapped Pakistan, an international arbitration court has imposed a whopping USD 5.976 billion penalty – one of the biggest in its history – on Islamabad for the unlawful denial of a mining lease to a company for the Reko Diq project in 2011. The Tethyan Copper Company (TCC) – a […]
Pakistan, India agree on ’80 per cent and beyond’ on Kartarpur draft agreement
By M Zulqernain LAHORE:Pakistan and India agreed “80 per cent and beyond” on the draft agreement and operationalisation of the landmark Kartarpur corridor, a senior Pakistani official said Sunday after a marathon meeting between the officials of the two countries in Wagah. The corridor will connect Darbar Sahib in Pakistan’s Kartarpur with Dera Baba Nanak […]
Friendship with China transforming into robust economic partnership: Imran Khan
NEW DELHI: Pakistan attaches great importance to projects taken under the $60 billion China-Pakistan Economic Corridor, Prime Minister Imran Khan said on Thursday, as he expressed satisfaction at Islamabad’s “robust” economic partnership with Beijing. The CPEC, which connects Gwadar Port in Balochistan with China’s Xinjiang province, is the flagship project of Chinese President Xi Jinping’s […]
Pakistan extends airspace ban along its eastern border with India till 28
LAHORE: Pakistan on Thursday extended its airspace ban along its eastern border with India for the third time till June 28, according to a notice issued by the country’s Civil Aviation Authority (CAA). Pakistan fully closed its airspace on February 26 after the Indian Air Force struck a Jaish-e-Mohammed (JeM) terrorist training camp in Balakot. […]
Pakistan government opts for austerity, but no reduction in defence budget
NEW DELHI: Pakistan on Tuesday announced that its defence budget for the next fiscal year (2019-20) will remain the the same as the last year’s Rs 1,150 billion amid an austerity drive by the government to solve the cash-strapped nation’s financial woes. Pakistan’s military, in a rare move, early this month decided to voluntarily cut […]
Pakistan extends closure of airspace along India till border till June 15
ISLAMABAD: Pakistan has further extended the closure of its airspace along its eastern border with India until June 15, according to the country’s civil aviation authority. Pakistan fully closed its airspace in February after an Indian Air Force strike on a Jaish-e-Mohammed (JeM) terror camp in Balakot. The country opened its airspace for all flights […]
Pakistan appoints Mueenul Haq as new High Commissioner to India
NEW DELHI: Pakistan on Monday appointed career diplomat Mueenul Haq as the High Commissioner to India. Prime Minister Imran Khan on Monday approved appointments of over two dozen ambassadors in various countries including India, China and Japan. Haq, the current ambassador to France, has previously served as chief of protocol at the Foreign Office. The […]
London Mayor calls for separate norms for Indian companies, students
LONDON: Pakistani-origin London Mayor Sadiq Khan has called for similar preferential norms for Indian companies and students as those offered to China in order to boost foreign direct investment (FDI) from India into the British capital. Indian businesses employ around 50,000 people in London and are the second-biggest foreign investors in London. According to a […]