India Pakistan

Asif said Imran Khan's politics and narrative based on "hate" against all those who are against him has inflicted a great damage. "Imran Khan only divided Pakistanis, not only in Pakistan but also in abroad. That is why a person in Canada abuses us. He did not even leave the Prophet Muhammad (PBUH) mosque," said the Defence Minister while speaking at the floor of the National Assembly.

India handed over lists of 309 Pakistani civilian prisoners and 95 fishermen in India's custody. Similarly, Pakistan shared lists of 49 civilian prisoners and 633 fishermen in its custody, who are Indians or are believed to be Indians. Under the provisions of the 2008 Agreement on Consular Access, such lists are exchanged every year on January 1 and July 1.

"Does it serve our interests, do we achieve our objectives whatever they may be, be it Kashmir, be it rising Islamophobia, the Hindutva supremacist nature of the new regimes and the governments in India? Does it serve our objective that we have practically cut off all engagements," asked Bilawal while speaking at the Institute of Strategic Studies in Islamabad, Express Tribune reported.

At the start of 2022, nine states -- the US, Russia, the UK, France, China, India, Pakistan, Israel and North Korea --possessed approximately 12,705 nuclear weapons, of which 9,440 were estimated to be in military stockpiles for potential use. About 3,732 of these warheads were estimated to be deployed with operational forces, and around 2,000 of these were kept in a state of high operational alert.

Eight polio cases have now been reported in children over the past month in North Waziristan district, bordering Afghanistan, the Guardian reported. They are the first cases in more than a year. This new outbreak, officials believe, is due to parents falsely marking themselves and their children as vaccinated, and the government has launched an investigation into the outbreak.

The issuance of visas is covered under the framework of the Pakistan-India Protocol on Visits to Religious Shrines of 1974, The Express Tribune quoted the statement as saying. "Every year, a large number of Sikh yatrees from India visit Pakistan to observe various religious festivals/occasions. The visas issued from New Delhi are in addition to the visas granted to Sikh pilgrims participating in these events from other countries."

With new Indus Commissioner of India Ashish Pal heading the Indian side, the meeting comes within three months of the last such meeting held at Islamabad. The 117th meeting of the Permanent Indus Commission (PIC) was held from March 1-3 in Islamabad. The Indian team was led by P.K. Saxena, the then Indus Commissioner for India.

The Express Tribune report said that relations between the two countries have remained strained for years now and took a turn for the worse in August 2019 when India revoked special status of Jammu and Kashmir. "Since then, diplomatic ties have been downgraded, bilateral trade suspended and there has been no structured dialogue.

Responding to questions on ties with India at a briefing, FO spokesman Asim Iftikhar said: "In diplomacy you never shut the doors." He said that there was a national consensus on this issue and successive governments had pursued the same policy of seeking peaceful settlement of disputes with India, reports Dawn news. The questions were asked in the context of overtures by the new government and the appointment of a trade minister in Delhi.

A meeting of water experts from both sides is scheduled to be held in New Delhi this month, but now it seems that the talks would be delayed, The Express Tribune said in a report. A three-day meeting of water experts from both countries was held on March 1 in Islamabad. According to sources, it was agreed in that meeting to hold talks in New Delhi in May.