Category: World

Pakistan to defers trade with India until Delhi reviews Kashmir’s Status: Shah Mehmood Qureshi

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Pakistan’s cabinet on Thursday put off allowing imports of cotton and sugar from neighbouring India until Delhi reviews its 2019 move to revoke the Kashmir region’s special status, the foreign minister said. In an effort to cool local demand and prices, Pakistan’s Economic Coordination Committee (ECC), the country’s top economic decision-making body, gave the go-ahead on Wednesday for the imports, which would have ended nearly two years of trade suspension between the nuclear-armed rivals. “It was a consensus opinion, including the prime minister, that as long as India doesn’t review…

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India has several human rights issues, working on restoring normalcy in Kashmir: US report

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India has several significant human rights issues, including unlawful and arbitrary killings, restrictions on freedom of expression and the press, corruption and tolerance of violations of religious freedom, a US report said on Tuesday. India has several significant human rights issues, including unlawful and arbitrary killings, restrictions on freedom of expression and the press, corruption and tolerance of violations of religious freedom, a US report said on Tuesday. In its ‘2020 Country Reports on Human Rights Practices’ to the US Congress, the Department of State noted the improvement in the…

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General Qamar Javed Bajwa calls for a peaceful Kashmir Resolution

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Pakistan’s powerful army chief on March 18 urged for a peaceful resolution in the disputed region of Kashmir and for peace talks with archrival India, a rare conciliatory call amid a weeks-long cease-fire across the volatile territory. Unsettled disputes between the two South Asian nuclear rivals are “dragging this region back to the swamp of poverty and underdevelopment,” said Gen. Qamar Javed Bajwa, addressing a gathering of scholars and experts discussing national security issues at a seminar in the capital, Islamabad. There was no immediate comment from India. The disputed…

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India topped the list of 29 countries that forced Internet Shutdown

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In 2020, India topped list of 29 countries that blocked access to the internet despite increased demand during COVID-19. Over the past year, billions of people all over the world have relied heavily on internet connectivity to keep in touch with family and friends, learn online, work from home and get vital information about the coronavirus pandemic. Yet over the course of 2020, 29 countries intentionally shut down or slowed their internet communications at least 155 times, according to a new report published by Access Now, a non-profit digital rights…

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Saudi Arabia maintains neutrality over the Kashmir Issue

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Much to Pakistan’s dismay and India’s delight, Saudi Arabia maintained neutrality over the Kashmir issue, even when Islamabad is making all efforts to mend its relations with the Gulf country and is wooing it to change its stance. Since Prime Minister Narendra Modi came to power in 2014, his government has had good relations with Saudi Arabia. After the Indian Prime Minister’s visit to Riyadh in October 2019, Saudi Arabia has maintained neutrality over Kashmir and backed India on cross-border terrorism, said Abhinav Pandya, a strategic analyst and the CEO…

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Would Saudi Arabia change its stance on Kashmir, as Imran Khan tries to mend ties with Riyadh?

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The Imran Khan government in Pakistan is trying to mend its ties with Saudi Arabia, which had hit a low last year. Does this mean Riyadh will change its stance on Kashmir? While the Pakistan-Saudi relations hit a rough patch in 2020, both New Delhi and Riyadh strengthened their ties and pledged to work together in various sectors. All this while, Islamabad’s rhetoric on Kashmir has not found any takers among its allies, including Saudi Arabia. In August 2020, cracks had surfaced in the Pakistan-Saudi relations after Foreign Minister Shah…

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Kashmir Situation likely to deteriorate in 2021: Report

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Peace to remain elusive as India, Pakistan ‘resorting to militarized strategies’ By: Hilal Mir Violence along the de-facto border in Kashmir is likely to continue to increase and India and Pakistan are unlikely in the near future to make efforts to resolve the conflict bilaterally, according to a report by the Armed Conflict Location and Event Data (ACLED) Project.The grim prediction is based on ACLED’s analysis of the events of 2020, which it called the most violent since 2016 when Kashmir witnessed months-long protests against India triggered by the killing…

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Army Human Rights record in J&K have raised barrier before German Arms Exports

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The country is India’s sixth-largest trading partner and its largest trading partner from the European Union. Concerns over the security forces’ human rights record in Jammu and Kashmir have raised a barrier before Germany’s small arms exports to India. German regulations and covenants restrict, and often prohibit, arms sales to nations or regions where their use might cause direct or collateral damage to civilian populations and institutions. Two Indian security officials familiar with the bar on German small arms producers said these companies had failed to obtain export licences from…

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Loss of autonomy in J&K threatens minorities rights: UN Independent Experts

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India’s decision to end autonomy in Jammu and Kashmir and restrict the participation of minorities in political and other activities sparked the concern of two UN-appointed independent human rights experts, on Thursday. “The loss of autonomy and the imposition of direct rule by the Government in New Delhi suggests the people of Jammu and Kashmir no longer have their own government and have lost power to legislate or amend laws in the region to ensure the protection of their rights as minorities”, Fernand de Varennes, Special Rapporteur on minority issues,…

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We would give Kashmiris ‘Right To Independence’: Imran Khan

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Addressing thousands, PM Khan said he is willing to allow Kashmiris the full right to self-determination even if they vote to stay with Pakistan. Pakistani Prime Minister Imran Khan has pledged to allow the people of Kashmir the right to independence if residents of the disputed Himalayan territory were to vote for joining Pakistan in a United Nations-mandated plebiscite that has been delayed for decades. Since gaining independence from the British in 1947, Pakistan and India have fought two of their three wars over Kashmir, with both sides claiming the…

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