Author: Nazta Rahija

Nepal and India have agreed to increase power trade and build more cross-border transmission lines while upgrading the existing ones in a bid to scale up bilateral trade of electricity. During the 10th joint secretary-level Joint Working Group and the secretary-level Joint Steering Committee held in Jaipur, India on February 17-18, the two sides also fixed a deadline for the completion of building and upgrade works on cross-border power lines, indicating the two sides’ commitments. Nepal officials described the agreements reached between the two sides as a ‘milestone’ to ensure a foreign market for Nepal’s electricity. According to a statement…

PESHAWAR, Pakistan (AP) — A Pakistani court on Wednesday acquitted the parents of an exiled female human rights activist, a defense lawyer said, three years after the couple was arrested on charges of terror financing and sedition. The 2019 arrests of Gulalai Ismail’s parents, Mohammad and Uzlifat Ismail, in the northwestern city of Peshawar, had drawn widespread condemnation. The U.S. State Department also expressed concern over the arrests. On Wednesday, an anti-terrorism court acquitted the couple, saying the prosecution failed to prove the charges, according to the couple’s lawyer, Shabbir Hussain Gigyan. Mohammad Ismail is a teacher and a social…

Minister for Finance Ishaq Dar expected to hold consultations with core economic team in couple of days The IMF has shared lists of prerequisite actions and told Pakistani authorities in plain words that Islamabad will have to move towards implementing all demands in the next 15 to 20 days for reviving the stalled Fund programme. Now the time has come for taking “all required actions” by Pakistani authorities and there is a timeframe of two to three weeks for implementing all required actions that could pave the way for striking a staff-level agreement and releasing of $1 billion tranche under the…

New York, Brussels (21/12 – 60). Tajikistan regime’s crimes committed against humanity breeds an atmosphere of fear and oppression amomgst the Pamiri community was the verdict of a United Nations human rights mission conducted by Special Rapporteur Mary Lawlor, after a recent visit to the country earlier this month. She described the situation of human rights defenders in Tajikistan as an atmosphere of corruption and the fear of persecution. She called on the government to treat human rights defenders as allies, not opponents. There is a violent repression of the ethnic and religious minority – Pamir Ismailis – and it…