Day: February 19, 2018

Foreign Minister Khawaja Asif on Monday left for Russia on a four-day visit at the invitation of his Russian counterpart, Sergei Lavrov, state-owned broadcaster Radio Pakistan reported. Asif is expected to hold official talks with Lavrov during his stay in Moscow. The two sides will deliberate upon the entire spectrum of bilateral relations as well as regional and international issues of mutual interest, the report said. The visit will provide opportunity to explore ways to further strengthen cooperation in the political, economic, trade and investment, defence, education and cultural sectors. Russia enjoys…

In a tit-for-tat action, Pakistan Army on Monday destroyed an Indian army post across the Line of Control and killed two soldiers hours after a Pakistani minor boy lost his life in Indian firing on a border village. “Pakistan Army troops neutralised [an] Indian post which targeted a minor along [the] LoC,” killing two soldiers, the military’s media wing said in a brief statement. Nearly two hours earlier, Director General of Inter-Services Public Relations (ISPR) Maj Gen Asif Ghafoor had said in a tweet that an eight-year-old boy named Ayan was killed…

Nine candidates put forward by the Farooq Sattar-led faction of the MQM-P for the upcoming Senate elections had their nomination papers withdrawn by the party’s Rabita Committee on Monday, DawnNews reported. The nine candidates withdrawn include Kamran Tessori, whose nomination by Sattar seems to have further split the party between the ‘PIB’ and ‘Bahadurabad’ factions. According to reports, the Election Commission of Pakistan’s (ECP) returning officer had received a letter signed by MQM Bahadurabad convener Khalid Maqbool Siddiqui informing the body that nine of its candidates had been withdrawn. Siddiqui had earlier…