DNA
Pakistan and Tajikistan on Nov 12, 2015 inked accords in diverse fields including a Treaty on extradition, an Agreement on energy cooperation and a Memorandum of Understanding on establishment of Joint Business Council. Prime Minister Muhammad Nawaz Sharif and Tajik President Emomali Rahmon witnessed the signing of documents and also signed a Joint Statement, at a ceremony held here at the PM House.
By Ansar Mahmood Bhatti
Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi landed at Lahore’s Allama Iqbal International Airport on Dec 25 on a quasi “surprise” visit, where Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif and Punjab Chief Minister Shahbaz Sharif were present to receive him. This is the first time an Indian premier has visited Pakistan in more than a decade. Television footage showed Modi exit his jet and embrace PM Nawaz, after which the two heads flew in a helicopter to Nawaz Sharif’s private residence in Raiwind.
Former Twenty20 captain Younis Khan remained unsold as the Pakistan Super League (PSL) draft concluded on Tuesday with Abdul Razzaq and Saeed Ajmal the most notable last-minute inclusions.It is worth noting that Pakistan’s only World T20 title came under Younis’ leadership in 2009 and the 38-year-old had expressed a desire to feature in the PSL in a similar role. His omission is likely to create another storm just weeks after the prolific batsman ended his ODI career amid much drama at the start of the England series. Veteran all-rounder Razzaq and spin wizard Ajmal were, however, picked by Lahore Qalandars and Islamabad United, respectively, at the very end of the draft process as franchises opted for younger talent in the initial rounds.
By Mubasshar Ahmed Bhatti
In month of June, 2015 the Republic of Azerbaijan hosted first ever European Games. The country with overwhelming Muslim majority population brought together more than 6000 European athletes. Thousands of sport fans and tourists from all over the world got mesmerised with beauty of capital city Baku and other spots of Azerbaijan. And the fact that Azerbaijani team stood second in the Olympics was another surprise.
24 years back, this scene would have looked a dream. In the early years of independence Azerbaijan experienced tremendous difficulties as it was beset by both economic and political crises. A flood of refugees and IDPs as a result of Armenian aggression, ruined economy, and an atmosphere of apathy and hopelessness had left few who could believe in a bright future for this country.
The “historic” agreement just concluded in Paris was supposed to be the humanity’s last chance to save the world from catastrophic warming. If that’s the case, then the world is surely doomed. Notwithstanding the giddy talk, not aPolar BearChristopher.Michel via Foter.com / CC BY single major polluter offered anything resembling an adequate plan to slash emissions. In fact, literally every country gamed the process—demonstrating, yet again, the utter folly of trying to save the world by putting it on a collective energy diet.
By Imtiaz Gul
Whenever Afghans, Indians and Pakistanis meet, most of them usually trade stereotypes about one another. They regurgitate clichéd narratives and often get bogged down in unpleasant exchanges rooted in history. During a recent meeting in Islamabad between civil society representatives from Pakistan and Afghanistan, fireworks flew across the table as they sat down to mull ways for extricating the bilateral relationship from the current bitter gridlock.
ISLAMABAD, NOV 06 (DNA) – Hiroshi Inomata, Ambassador of Japan to Pakistan, handed over hybrid vehicles to the Ministry of Interior (MOI) on Friday.These hybrid vehicles were manufactured by Japanese company using more efficient cutting edge technology. The Government of Japan will provide in total 123 vehicles to MOI and National Highways and Motorway Police. Total cost for the provision of the vehicles is around 500 million Japanese Yen, an equivalent of PRs. 435 million.
Russian military intervention in Syria is a deliberate act, based on years of planning. Putin solved domestic problems; re-juvinated the armed forces; ensured security of the “Near abroad” and reached out to Afghanistan to eliminate the terror threat. The primary objective was, to return to the centre stage of world politics, as a super-power, while the declared objective is: Russia is saving Europe, from the barbarians, fourth time – from Mongols, Napoleon, Hitler and now the Islamic State.
Dean of European missions, Ambassador of Romania talks to Centreline and DNA
Ansar Mahmood Bhatti
Ambassador of Romania Emilian ION gave an exclusive interview to Centreline and DNA on the occasion of Romanian national day. Ambassador Emilian is also the Dean of European missions. Ambassador ION is now the senior most ambassador among the European diplomatic corps and third senior most ambassador in the diplomatic corps. He has contributed greatly towards the strengthening of relations between Pakistan and Romania. During his tenure Pakistan and Romania have explored a number of avenues while a lot more are in the pipeline. Here are excerpts from his interview.
ISLAMABAD: The deadly Paris attacks that claimed over 160 lives have sent shock waves throughout the world. The whole world has extended support to France at this critical time. This is not for the first time that that France has been hit hard by terrorists, even in January this year some miscreants attacked office of French newspaper Charlie Hebdo, which had published blasphemous materials. 11 people were killed in that January 7 attack. This time tally is huge and perhaps unprecedented in the recent French history.
