Islamabad: US Secretary of State John Kerry will visit Pakistan in June 2013, marking the first high-level contact between the two countries since the new government led by Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif assumed office last week. This will also be Kerry's first visit to Islamabad since taking office. Shortly before Sharif was sworn in as premier, US Special Representative for Afghanistan and Pakistan James Dobbins visited Pakistan for talks with the civilian and military leadership.
"US Secretary of State John Kerry is expected to arrive in the fourth week of this month. Final dates are being worked out," Foreign Office spokesman Aizaz Ahmad Chaudhry told a weekly news briefing. US officials had earlier said Kerry would visit Pakistan after Sharif s government assumed office. Sharif has retained the crucial foreign affairs portfolio and appointed former Foreign Minister Sartaj Aziz as his advisor on foreign affairs and national security.
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12:57 AM, Jun 14, 2013
Islamabad: Pakistan President Asif Ali Zardari has called for bringing an end to political confrontations to effectively deal with the daunting challenges being faced by the country. "We cannot afford confrontation and need reconciliation," said President Zardari while addressing a joint session of the parliament on Monday, being attended by new Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif and other elected members. The president's address marked the beginning of the first parliamentary year...
05:10 AM, Jun 11, 2013
Islamabad: Pakistani Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif in his speech to the first cabinet meeting on Monday condemned the US drone attacks as violation of national sovereignty. Sharif has been critical of the drone attacks in the country's tribal regions since he assumed office as the prime minister last week, reported Xinhua. The CIA-controlled drone operation carried out one strike in North Waziristan only two days after Sharif became the prime...
04:20 AM, Jun 11, 2013
Islamabad: Pakistan's Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif on Saturday said he is ready to facilitate the withdrawal of foreign troops from neighbouring Afghanistan but US drone strikes in his country "must stop" as they are a violation of sovereignty. Sharif made the remarks during a meeting with visiting German Foreign Minister Guido Westerwelle. The two leaders discussed bilateral relations and the regional situation. "Drone attacks are violating our sovereignty as well...
12:27 AM, Jun 09, 2013
Jeddah: Yemen gave a qualified welcome on Sunday to President Barack Obama's promise to lift a ban on repatriating Yemeni prisoners from Guantanamo Bay, saying he now had to back up his words with actions. Foreign Minister Abubakr al-Qirbi said his government was building a "rehabilitation center" to house Yemenis who have been detained at the US camp in Cuba for more than a decade. Obama promised May 2013 to...
07:41 AM, Jun 03, 2013
Washington: In a wide-ranging speech on foreign policy on Thursday, US President Barack Obama defended his administration's use of drones to kill terrorists abroad, and in a nod to concerns, outlined plans to limit the use of such strikes. As described in a White House statement, the key elements of the president's policy for the use of force in counterterrorism operations outside the United States and outside a war zone...
03:45 AM, May 24, 2013
Washington: President Barack Obama outlined plans on Thursday to limit the use of US drone strikes against extremists abroad and took steps aimed at breaking a deadlock on closing the Guantanamo Bay military prison. In a major foreign policy speech after two weeks of fending off domestic scandals, Obama limited the scope of what his predecessor, George W Bush, had called a global war on terror after the September 11,...
02:46 AM, May 24, 2013
Washington: The US government formally acknowledged for the first time on Wednesday that it had killed four Americans, including militant cleric Anwar al-Awlaki, who died in drone strikes in Yemen and Pakistan. Attorney General Eric Holder named the dead US citizens in a letter to members of Congress a day before President Barack Obama is expected to promise more transparency on national security issues in a speech on counterterrorism. A...
06:48 AM, May 23, 2013
Kabul: A suicide bomber in a car attacked a convoy of foreign troops in Kabul on Thursday, killing at least 15 people including six Americans, Afghan and foreign officials said, in one of the worst attacks in the Afghan capital in months. Forty people were wounded in the blast at around 8 am (0330 GMT) during the morning rush-hour. It caused heavy damage to mud-built houses in the vicinity. The...
06:44 AM, May 17, 2013
Kabul: Two members of Afghanistan's NATO-led force were killed on Thursday when a suicide car bomber attacked their two-car convoy in the Afghan capital, Kabul, the force said in a statement. The NATO-led International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) said four ISAF civilian contractors were also among the dead but it did not provide information on their nationalities. ...
05:10 PM, May 16, 2013
Mumbai: Mumbai's bustling markets on Thursday wore an empty, deserted look. Since Monday, over one lakh traders in the city have shut shop to protest against the Local Body Tax (LBT) that the Maharashtra government has introduced to replace octroi. Traders say that the protest has caused a loss of Rs 75,000 crore so far. But they are not backing down yet. With talks with the government failing, they have...
07:37 PM, May 09, 2013
Jammu and Kashmir Chief Minister Omar Abdullah on Saturday spoke to Union Home Minister Sushil Kumar Shinde and demanded that the case of arrest of an alleged Hizbul Mujahdeen terrorist by Delhi Police be transferred to the National Investigation Agency (NIA) for a "time-bound speedy probe". The Chief Minister took up the matter with Shinde over phone as the latter was away in Maharashtra with President Pranab Mukherjee. ...
07:51 PM, Mar 23, 2013
Liaqat Shah, arrested by the Delhi police on Friday, was allegedly planning terror attacks ahead of Holi in Delhi. The Delhi Police sources insist Liaqat was a senior terrorist named in a 2011 FIR for promoting terror from PoK and he had come to India to carry out recces for fidayeen attacks. ...
08:38 AM, Mar 23, 2013
The Delhi Police on Thursday arrested a suspected Hizbul Mujahideen terrorist from Gorakhpur who revealed that there were plans of terror strikes on the occasion of Holi in the national capital. The police said the suspected terrorist, identified as Liaqat Shah, was sent by Pakistani agencies and was being trained in Pakistan. ...
03:42 PM, Mar 22, 2013
According to sources, the Centre gave into the demands of state governments opposing the ambitious setting up of NCTC and said the proposed intelligence agency will not have the right to make arrests without the states' permission. ...
11:58 PM, Feb 26, 2013
Indian Mujahideen outsmarts security agencies, continues to target India. CBI faces tough task ahead in investigations despite filing Preliminary Enquiry. ...
11:41 PM, Feb 25, 2013
At least seven major terror strikes since 2006 in the country have been linked to Indian Mujahideen, the banned terror outfit. ...
11:34 PM, Feb 25, 2013
At least seven major terror strikes since 2006 in the country have been linked to Indian Mujahideen, the banned terror outfit. Intelligence agencies consider the outfit's leader, Bhatkal brothers, as India's most wanted terror suspects. Agents believe the outfit now virtually works as a BPO unit for its handlers. ...
09:16 PM, Feb 25, 2013
President Barack Obama on February 14 promised to be more forthcoming with the American public on his administration's campaign of lethal drone strikes amid criticism over the targeting of suspected US terrorism suspects abroad. Obama, under pressure from the left and right to allow greater scrutiny of the secret decision-making process for killing Americans overseas, vowed to work with Congress to craft a "mechanism" to be more open about how...
10:53 AM, Feb 15, 2013
CIA Director-designate John Brennan strongly defended anti-terror attacks by unmanned drones on February 7 under close questioning at a protest-disrupted confirmation hearing. On a second controversial topic, he said that after reading a classified intelligence report on harsh interrogation techniques, he does not know if waterboarding has yielded useful information. ...
12:05 PM, Feb 08, 2013
