New Delhi: Afghanistan President Hamid Karzai arrived in the country on Monday on a three-day visit during which he will seek increased military aid from India and discuss recent cross-border clashes with Pakistan. "We will ask for assistance for the strengthening of our security forces," Karzai's spokesman had said in a briefing on Saturday in Kabul ahead of the trip.
Karzai, who arrived in Punjab on the first leg of his tour of the country, was conferred an honorary doctorate degree by President Pranab Mukherjee at a professional university in Phagwara. Afghanistan and India had signed a strategic partnership agreement in 2011 that included military training of Afghan security forces.
Apart from extensive developmental assistance programme, which now stands at around $2 billion, India also provides training in capacity building to 2,000 Afghans every year. Terming Afghanistan as a "strategically important" neighbour, a spokesperson in the Ministry of External Affairs said the two countries had mechanisms available to address all issues under Strategic Partnership Agreement.
"Our view is that there is a mechanism available, and all issues are discussed under this mechanism. And within our own modest means as a developing country, we will continue to discuss and respond to specific requests of the Afghan government," he said....
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10:49 PM, May 20, 2013
Islamabad: Former military ruler Pervez Musharraf was on Monday granted bail by a Pakistani anti-terrorism court in connection with the 2007 Benazir Bhutto assassination case, but the ex-president will remain under house arrest. The granting of bail does not mean that 69-year-old Musharraf, who is currently being held at his palatial farmhouse on the outskirts of Islamabad, will be freed as he faces two other cases - detaining dozens of...
06:11 PM, May 20, 2013
Karachi: Cricketer-turned-politician Imran Khan's Pakistan Tehrik-i-Insaf on Monday secured an overwhelming victory in repolling held in one constituency of Pakistan's violence-plagued city of Karachi, election officials said. PTI's Arif Alvi bagged 17,489 votes, while his opponent Naimatullah Khan of Jamaat-i-Islami (JI) managed to secure only 446 votes for the NA-250 seat though his party boycotted the poll, according to unofficial results published in the Pakistani media. The repoll was ordered...
05:57 PM, May 20, 2013
Cricketnext editor Jamie Alter joined IBNLive readers for an interaction on the IPL play-offs and the shadow of spot-fixing. Q. Hi Jamie,Let it be regulated under Govt of India. Your views. Asked by: Samuel A. Hi Samuel, I'm no legal expert by any standard but I will say that I believe the IPL should come under the RTI Act. According to section 2(h) of this, even a non-government organisation comes...
05:23 PM, May 20, 2013
Islamabad: President Asif Zardari has said that he should have quit his position and led the Pakistan People's Party's campaign in order to ensure a better performance in the just concluded general election. Zardari made the remarks while interacting with a delegation of the South Asian Free Media Association at his private residence in Lahore last night. The PPP, which led the government at the centre for the past five...
11:29 AM, May 20, 2013
A journalist visa is a good barometer to measure the Indo-Pak warmth or the 'heat'. If the visa comes through smoothly, know relations are hunky ...
10:28 AM, May 20, 2013
Supporters of Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI), the party led by Imran Khan, gathered in the Clifton district of southern Karachi on Sunday to protest against the killing of senior party member Zahra Shahid. ...
10:05 AM, May 20, 2013
New Delhi: Afghanistan President Hamid Karzai will arrive in India on Monday. Karzai is set to receive an honorary doctorate from a Chandigarh university, after which he will visit the national capital. Hamid Karzai, who is not on an official visit to India, may seek increased military aid from India during and discuss recent cross-border clashes with Pakistan, an aide said. The comments follow a weekend report by the Times...
09:59 AM, May 20, 2013
Karachi/Lahore: Cricketer-turned-politician Imran Khan will lead protests in Pakistan's largest city of Karachi against the killing of a senior leader of his party for which he has directly blamed MQM chief Altaf Hussain. In a video message released on Sunday, Khan, who is under treatment at the Shaukat Khanum hospital in Lahore after an accident during the election campaign, said as soon as he was well he would himself lead...
01:43 AM, May 20, 2013
Darjeeling: Two agents and two other linkmen of Pakistani spy agency ISI were arrested at Kurseong in Darjeeling district. "Two ISI agents identified as Maghan Bahadur Singh, a resident of Chotta Adalpur and Mesho Sauria, a resident of Panighatta Tea Estate were arrested on the charge of spying for ISI this afternoon," Superintendent of Police Kunal Agarwal told journalists at Kurseong police station. Two other ISI linkmen Gopal Khati of...
12:56 AM, May 20, 2013
While Sarabjit Singh received a state funeral after his death in Pakistan, there are hundreds like him who have taken extraordinary risks, often spending years in Pakistani jails, but are never remembered. ...
10:58 PM, May 19, 2013
Islamabad: Unidentified armed men gunned down a Hindu man in Quetta city of southwest Pakistan on Sunday, police said. No group claimed responsibility for the murder. Madan Lal was standing near his house at Munir Ahmad Khan Road when the gunmen riding a motorcycle shot him and fled. Lal died on the spot. The body was handed over to his family after an autopsy. The motive for the killing could...
10:35 PM, May 19, 2013
Edinburgh: Pakistan's one-day international against Scotland was washed out on Sunday due to a waterlogged playing surface in Edinburgh. The match was due to start at 0945GMT but heavy rain in the Scottish capital in the preceding 24 hours had left the outfield sodden. Match officials Mark Hawthorn and Ian Ramage ordered five pitch inspections, while Grange ground staff were given until almost 1400GMT to address the problem but it...
08:51 PM, May 19, 2013
Kabul: Afghan President Hamid Karzai will seek increased military aid from India during a three-day visit starting Monday and will discuss recent cross-border clashes with Pakistan, an aide said. The comments follow a weekend report by the Times of India that said Afghanistan's ambassador to India had said the country needs India's help with "equipment and weapons to fight." The Press Trust of India later quoted a spokesman for India's...
07:35 PM, May 19, 2013
Lahore: Nawaz Sharif's PML-N has attained a majority in Pakistan's National Assembly after 18 independent candidates joined the party, placing it in a position to form government at the centre without striking an alliance with any other party. Several independent candidates belonging to influential political families of Punjab and Sindh provinces are among those who have joined the PML-N, which emerged the single largest party in the May 11 general...
07:31 PM, May 19, 2013
Lahore: Pakistani judge Syed Mazahar Ali Akbar Naqvi probing the murder of Indian death row convict Sarabjit Singh may also visit India to complete the judicial inquiry. Justice Naqvi of the Lahore High Court is investigating the death of Sarabjit who died on May 2 following a brutal assault by prisoners on April 26 within Kot Lakhpat Jail in Lahore. The one-man inquiry tribunal has appealed to Indian nationals having...
07:23 PM, May 19, 2013
Islamabad: In the backdrop of Nawaz Sharif's positive remarks on ties with India, powerful Army chief Gen Ashfaq Parvez Kayani has suggested Pakistan's Prime Minister - designate to take gradual initiatives with utmost caution for improving relations with New Delhi, a media report said on Sunday. Kayani made the suggestion when he called on PML-N chief Nawaz Sharif, set to become Prime Minister for a record third term following his...
12:38 PM, May 19, 2013
Karachi: Cricketer turned politician Imran Khan has held the chief of Mutthaida Qaumi Movement (MQM) directly responsible for the killing of a senior leader of his party in the city. "I hold Altaf Hussain directly responsible for the murder as he had openly threatened Pakistan Tehrik-e-Insaf workers and leaders through public broadcasts," Imran said in a statement from his hospital bed late Saturday night. The statement came hours after the...
08:55 AM, May 19, 2013
Jammu: The BSF is all geared up and alert to foil any infiltration bid by militants from across the Indo-Pak border, said a senior BSF officer. "We will not allow infiltration to take place...BSF troops are alert to foil it," IG BSF, Jammu Frontier, Rajeev Krishna told reporters at Jammu railway station after flagging-off a special coach for para military forces. "International boundary in Jammu is sensitive...there have been incidents...
01:20 AM, May 19, 2013
Karachi: A senior leader of Imran Khan's Pakistan Tehrik-e-Insaf party was shot dead in Karachi on Saturday, police said. Zahra Shahid Hussain, the vice-president of the party's chapter in Sindh, was shot by two unidentified men outside her home in Defence Phase IV late on Saturday night. She died while being taken to a nearby hospital. Hussain was a member of the party's central executive committee. The motive for the...
12:51 AM, May 19, 2013
